Trapped
by SilverWolfsBane29
Summary: Salus is a girl that is not easily noticed because of her silent nature and small size which makes her easy to overlook. Her friend Lily is different that way, she caught the attention of James Potter and the rest of the marauders. Being Lily's closest friend, James goes to Salus to learn how to get the red headed girls attention. Along the way she catches some attention herself.
1. Chapter 1

A girl, not very noticeable to most, sits at the end of the Gryffindor table and eats her breakfast in silence. Her black hair curtains around her face as she keeps her dark blue eyes fixed on the sketchbook in her lap. The quill in her hand dances across her paper as she sketches a small bird, not looking away from the drawing even to take another bite of her toast, or dip her quill in ink. She doesn't indulge in the many conversations going on around her, choosing instead to immerse herself in the sketchbook under the table. The girl is a natural wallflower with her petite frame and seemingly weak appearance, and many of the other students around the hall overlook her easily. All except for one friendly redhead.

"Salus!" Lily Evan calls as she enters into the great hall, "Why didn't you wait for me?"

"You were asleep when I left," Salus replies, not looking up as Lily sits down next to her. Salus' quiet voice matches her small size, and even though she tries to speak in a mock-scolding voice, the small smile tugging at her lips gives her away, "Next time get up with me."

"At the ungodly hour you wake up? No thanks," Lily jokes.

Lily is one of the few people that converses with Salus, but the quiet girl has no problem with that. They grew up in the same area, sticking to each other even from a young age, and after sharing a dorm room as well they've become very good friends. The other Gryffindors either ignore Salus because of her brother, or don't notice her. Sitting at the Slytherin table for dinner to be with her brother doesn't help her reputation, but luckily Lily doesn't mind. Especially since her brother is Severus Snape, who Lily used to be close to.

The snickers of the group of boys further down the Gryffindor table catches Salus' attention, and manages to break her away from her drawing. The four boys; James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin, speak between themselves with hushed excitement. Their muffled laughs catch Lily's attention as well, and her friendly expression quickly turns into a frown. Salus easily picks up her friend's sour mood and hums a silent laugh.

"That Potter boy still fancy you?" She asks already knowing the answer, closing her sketchbook and returning to her breakfast of plain toast, trying to ignore the boys laughs.

"Yes," Lily replies bitterly, "Though I think fancy is a bit of a stretch. I think the arrogant toerag just enjoys infuriating me."

"Yes, that must be it," Salus says, the hint of sarcasm on her tone. James has fancied Lily for a while now, going to the extent of publicly declaring his love for her in the Great Hall more than once, and hearing Lily complain about him has become a daily occurrence. Sometimes it becomes difficult to tell whether Lily despises James, or loves the attention but is trying to hide it. Salus decided to go with despise, as the latter decision seems unlikely. But lately she has begun to wonder if Lily was beginning to fancy him, but was trying to deny it, or hadn't realized it yet.

"What do you think they're up to now?" Lily grumbles, ignoring the silent girl's comment.

"Who knows? We'll just have to wait and see." Salus lies easily. She had seen Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter sneak into the Great Hall early that morning before anyone else arrived, and put sticking charms on all of the slytherin benches. They didn't seem to see her enter the Great Hall shortly after them, as they made no indication they had seen her.

By now Salus had been witness to countless number of the boy's pranks, to the point that she knows when they're coming, but had never actually talked to any of them outside of a classroom. And even then it was only short questions on an assignment or group work. At most, her and Remus sometimes studied together during class or in the library, but Salus doesn't consider that any kind of real friendship as they never speak about personal matters. Simply, they have an understanding of priorities.

Usually most of the boy's pranks and jokes were directed at the Slytherins so Salus' never had to deal with the other three directly, but she usually has to try and warn Severus when she sees one coming. Well, at least the ones directed only at him. If it's Slytherin as a whole then she doesn't bother, but when they start to bully Severus she usually tries to stop them before it happens. Unfortunately she doesn't always stop them fast enough. Luckily, they haven't yet noticed her small sabotages to their pranks, even though she'd be an easy suspect. One of the advantages of being an extreme wallflower.

None of the Slytherins have tried to leave their table yet, so no one is yet aware of the charm holding them in place. Salus muses at the image of the Slytherins once they try to stand up; tipping over the benches and falling to the floor, cursing loudly and angrily at all of the students laughing at their misfortune. As entertaining as that would be, Salus decides, there are more important things to be doing. Salus stands from the table, and quickly finishes off the rest of her breakfast.

"Where are you off to?" Lily asks.

"Dorms, forgot my potions book. See you in class," she replied simply before leaving the Great Hall. Most find it rude when Salus talks with short, to the point, responses, but after knowing each other for so many years, Lily has grown used to it. She's also used to the short girl disappearing for different lengths of time, but no longer questions her about it. Especially since Salus used to be much more silent and secretive then she is now.

Salus made the trip up to the seventh floor of the castle at a leisurely pace, thankfully with no interruptions, and she made it up into her dorm room. Salus' bed is set against a wall next to Lily's bed, and unlike some of the other Gryffindor girls, both Lily's and Salus' parts of the room were exceptionally tidy. The only form of clutter on Salus' part of the room was a stack of sketchbooks piled on her bedside cabinet, along with a few pictures attached to the stone wall. Most of the drawings on her wall were of different kinds of birds or magical creatures, and most had been enchanted to move. Two of her favourites being a black hippogriff that would rear up flap its enormous wings, and one of a small red hummingbird that flew around a purple flower. Salus' interest in magical creatures showed through most of her drawings, and she always got top marks in Care of Magical Creatures no matter what the assignment was. Her sketchbooks, however, were usually filled with darker themes that she would not show anyone else.

Salus abandoned her sketch book on her bedside cabinet with the rest, so she wouldn't get distracted by it in class, and quickly grabs her potions textbook and old rucksack with quills and parchment in it. She exited the dorm and went down to the common room only to find four unexpected people waiting for her. Waiting at the bottom of the girls stairs were Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter. James and Sirius were whispering amongst themselves, Peter cutting in to add a comment or two, and Remus was standing to the side with an uncaring expression, but they all stop once they notice Salus coming down the stairs.

"Salus, right? You're one of Lily's mates?" James ask, trying to pull a friendly smile on his face, but Salus can easily tell its strained.

"Yes?" she asks, folding her arms across her chest uncomfortably.

"I, uh, I wanted to talk to you about Lily," he says uncertainly.

Salus responds by raising one black eyebrow as a signal to continue, but kept her expression emotionless and cool.

"Well, I just wanted to ask you some questions," he says, stuffing his hands in his pockets uncomfortably, "Like why she seems to hate me?"

"Even someone as daft as you should be able to figure that out, Potter," Salus responds, a small, complacent smirk tugging at her lips. Salus has never really liked the group of boys, an exception being Remus, because of their targeting of her brother.

Peter's face scrunched up angrily, "I told you she wouldn't help! She's Snivellus' sister, after all."

Salus fixes her glare on Peter, her least favourite of the group because of the nasty attitude he's shown her, who sneers back at her, "If you're trying to get my help, you're not doing a very good job of impressing me. Are you?"

Salus steps around them and heads for the exit, no longer interested in whatever they had to say. She's stopped abruptly by a hand lightly grabbing her forearm, just tight enough to stop her. She spins to meet James who looks at her pleadingly, and rips her arm from his grip.

"Please," he says, "Just some kind of knowledge, something she likes or dislikes maybe? Something to at least start a conversation?"

Salus is about to snap at him, but stops herself when she sees his pleading face.

"Fine," she sighed, instantly regretting her decision, "Your immature. Lily thinks you act similarly to a child, which I agree with, and won't consider dating you unless you grow up."

"Immature?" Sirius repeats.

"Well you did put a sticking charm on the Slytherin benches just this morning, so yes," Salus says, her eyebrows scrunched together, "Plus you constantly target Severus, who was close to Lily. It's not that difficult to figure out, Black."

James looks a little surprised that she actually answered his earlier question and says, "Thanks, I think?"

"I don't really care what you do with this information, but if you hurt Lily in any way I'll insure you never see her again," Salus says, the intimidation in her voice cut in half because of her short stature.

"I won't." James says, a little taken back from the feistiness of the usually silent girl, "Thanks, I owe you one."

Salus simply nods in response and leaves the dorms, feeling tired of the three boys and James' ridiculous attempts at impressing Lily. Salus didn't know why she bothered telling James when it's obvious Lily won't fall for something like that. It takes a lot more than that to sway Lily, even if she may fancy him a bit already. It's probably because he looked so pitiful pleading her like that.

Remus finally speaks up and asks the other three boys, once Salus had left, the question none of them had realized, "Was Salus even in the room when the Slytherins stood from the table?"

The other three Gryffindors looked at each other, none of them knowing the answer.


	2. Chapter 2

"What took you so long?" Lily asks as Salus walked stiffly into the potions room. Her redheaded friend is already seated at their potions table with all their potions equipment set up properly and her textbook splayed out in front of her.

"Took a stroll, lost track of time. Sorry," Salus says, slumping down in her seat. She tried not to make a habit of lying to Lily, even if she has a natural talent for it, but Lily would only be upset if she knew Potter was trying to get info on her. She'd probably be even more upset if she knew Salus had agreed.

The class hadn't started yet, but Salus usually arrived a bit early to go over her potions notes and textbook. Despite her twin brother being extremely skilled in the subject and attempting to tutor Salus, she had a horrible time in potions. She only passed Potions on her O.W.L with barely an E because of hours of relentless studying.

The class is shared between the Slytherins and Gryffindors, but Salus and Severus never sit together; him choosing to sit with other Slytherins, and Salus preferring Lily's company in the subject. Unfortunately, both Severus and Lily's tutoring methods on the confusing subject didn't work the best with Salus, so her grade in the class is a lot lower than she'd like. Even Remus wasn't much help with potions, as he wasn't the best at the subject as well.

The group of four boys entered the class a few minutes after Salus, strolling in without of care in the world despite being a few minutes late. But there's nothing really wrong with that when the professor is just as late. James and Sirius take the seats next to Lily and Salus, Remus takes the seat behind the two girls and Peter is on the other side of the class. Professor Slughorn enters the class a few minutes later and immediately starts the lesson.

It's about halfway through the lesson that a crumpled piece of paper lands on the desk next to Salus' hand. She looks over to where it came from to find James and Sirius both following Slughorn's lesson, but it's obvious they sent it. She peeks over at Lily but she didn't seem to notice the note. Salus hides it under the table and quietly unfolds it; messy chicken scrawl writing is in the corner of the piece of parchment.

' _Talk to Lily about me - J_ '

Salus subtly writes a quick ' _no_ ' right underneath his message and flicks it back to him. Why would she want to? Lily would just talk about how 'arrogant' and 'immature' he's been lately, only sinking him further down in her eyes.

' _Plus_ ,' Salus thought to herself, ' _I'm in class, and I can't afford to not pay attention in potions._ '

Not that the two boys would care about that; Sirius' and James' potions are always perfect which is made clear by Slughorn's endless praise.

Soon another note lands on Salus' desk reading;

 _'I'll help you with potions in exchange?_ '

Salus hesitates and thinks over his proposal.

 _'I do suck at potions- Lily and Remus' explanations don't help me that much- and James does have one of the highest marks in the class._ ' Salus considers, _'I guess it couldn't hurt, but Lily might be mad with me if she finds out'_

Salus quickly scribbles back;

 _'Fine. I'll speak to her later._

 _Meet in Library, 4 pm tomorrow.'_

After flicking the note over, Salus notices James grinning triumphantly to Sirius and she quickly regrets her decision, but it's too late to go back now. She'll just have to talk to Lily later.

Later that afternoon, Salus and Remus had a regular study session in the library together. This time they were working on charms since Professor Flitwick had given them a huge essay. When the two of them study together it's usually silent- except for the odd question and the scribbling of their quills against parchment- but today was different.

Remus looked up from his assignment and asked Salus with a slight strain in his tone, "So Sirius is going to be helping you with Potions?"

Salus looked up at him, "I thought James was? I mean, he's the one who made the deal."

"No, I overhead them talking," Remus explains, "Sirius is the better of the two at potions and agreed to help you for James."

Salus hums in response, "I suppose it doesn't make a difference, as long as one of them upholds the deal."

They return to their work, ending all conversation. But after a few minutes Salus noticed Remus having a hard time concentrating on his work. His skin was rather pale and sickly and he looked very aggravated, once in awhile rubbing the back of his neck or scratching at his arm.

 _'That's right_ ,' Salus thought to herself, _'full moon's in a few days._ '

Salus had known of Remus' lycanthropy since second year, and always kept track of the moon cycles because of it. When she found out she was quite surprised, but soon realized how badly it must affect him. She never told anyone else, including Remus, for obvious reasons. She never wanted to talk to Remus about it since it'd probably upset him and she doesn't want to lose her study partner. Instead she tried to subtly do nice things for him without him realizing she knows during the days leading up to the full moon; things like leave candy or treats for him outside his dorm room, or write extra notes from class for him on the day after the full moon when he's in the hospital wing. Leaving food outside his door may sound a tad weird, but she thought it might help in some way.

"You alright, Remus?" She asked, putting down her quill, "We can stop early for today if you're not feeling well."

Remus looked up at her again, a mixture of emotions showing in his eyes, "No, I'm fine thanks."

"You sure?" Salus asked again.

"Yes, I'll be fine- must've eaten something funny." He replied. Despite his discomfort, a smile tugged on Remus' lips.

"What is it?" Salus asked, noticing his change in demeanor.

Remus' smile grew slightly larger as he said, "I think this is the longest we've had an actual conversation."

This surprised Salus but she laughed silently under her breath, "I guess it is. Kind of sad, huh? Studying together for this long and not even speaking."

Remus' eyebrows scrunched together a bit and he rested his head on his arms, "We've known each other for six years but we know nothing about each other. Besides that you suck at potions."

"You suck at herbology," Salus replied, leaning back in her chair and abandoning her charms work all together.

Remus rolled his eyes, "Anything that doesn't have to do with class?"

". . . You like quidditch?"

"Well yes, but it doesn't count if you guess," He responded.

"Yes, but now I know two facts while you only know one." Salus smirked.

"You . . ." Remus thinks for a moment, "Are related to Severus."

"That doesn't count, everybody knows that," Salus rolled her eyes this time.

"That's true." He said, the hint of a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Well how about this; I know you're more perceptive than you let on."

Salus froze, "What do you mean?"

"You knew about the sticking charm on the Slytherin benches before anybody else in the Great Hall did," he replied with a small grin.

Salus hummed in thought, "Guess you caught that."

"How'd you know?"

"Well, it wasn't that difficult, I was in the room when your lot did it," Salus explained, surprising Remus, "Don't blame you, Lily's always telling me I'm too silent for my own good, but you should really be more cautious when sneaking about."

Remus paused before a small grin tugs at his lips, "well now I know another; you're silent."

Salus shook her head at him, but couldn't help the smile that slipped onto her face, "I think that's enough facts for one day. See you in D.A.D.A."

Salus grabbed her rucksack and charms book, waved a polite goodbye, and then left the library. While Salus isn't one to completely hide anything about herself, she also enjoys her privacy. There are very few people in the school that know anything about Salus- the exceptions being Lily, Severus, and her dorm mates- and she was comfortable with it staying that way.

The rest of the day was eventless, and classes passed as they usually did with an exceptional amount of work. Even after completing their O.W.L's, the teachers were still giving out massive amounts of work. Luckily there were a lot more free time, but it was all filled with working on assignments and long essays.

The final class of the day ended and Lily, Alice- one of Lily and Salus' dorm mates- and Salus walked together down to the Great Hall for dinner. Lily and Alice chatted happily, Alice talking about her boyfriend who had graduated already, who was working towards becoming an Auror. Salus only added one or two polite comments, but didn't find herself that interested in the girls love life. Once they reached the Great Hall, Salus parted from the other two to go sit with her brother.

Like usual, the Slytherins completely ignored Salus' presence at their table. Severus looked up at Salus as she sat down and greeted her with a, "sister," but nothing more. Salus dished out some food, but apparently it wasn't enough to Severus' liking as he scooped more food onto her plate.

"Thanks, mum," Salus rolled her eyes at him, but kept eating.

Severus sent her a stern look, "You're getting too thin, it's not healthy."

"I can take care of myself fine, thank you." Salus replied, looking up at him with a slight smile to show she was at least somewhat grateful for his concern.

Salus, noticing Severus' black hair had grown quite a lot, asks him, "Would you like me to cut your hair again? It's gotten rather long again."

Severus' eyebrows pulled down into a frown and he grumbled, "Remember the last time I let you near me with scissors?"

"That was your fault, you wouldn't sit still," Salus argued, "I cut my hair and it looks fine. Even Alice let me trim her hair a couple of times."

Severus scoffed under his breath, "Then practice on your little Gryffindor friends. Better one of them a Guinea Pig then me."

All conversation ended after that. Severus always got in a bad mood when Salus mentioned one of her Gryffindor mates. They had gotten in more than one fight on the topic before, but Salus knew no matter how much she tried to change his mind on the subject he would just argue against her. Severus was convinced that Slytherin was the best of the four houses and had come to despise most Gryffindors. Especially after being bullied by the four boys who called themselves the 'marauders'. Even though Remus usually tried to keep away from those situations, Severus hated him as well. Especially since he found out about Remus' lycanthropy. After Severus found out he tried to explain to Salus how dangerous Remus was, but Salus always responded by saying that there was no way that Dumbledore would allow a werewolf into the school. He kept trying to convince her, but one day he just gave up and hasn't brought it up since.

After dinner, Salus returned to Gryffindor Tower with Lily and Alice. The three of them worked on their transfiguration homework in the common room, Alice and Lily spread out in front of the fireplace and Salus resting on the couch. Salus found her mind wandering and couldn't concentrate on her essay. Thoughts of Remus and their conversation kept floating around her head, distracting her from any other thoughts. Salus had never had a proper conversation with him before, but it was surprisingly enjoyable. When she talks to others it is often awkward or stale, and makes Salus uncomfortable. But Salus and Remus talked rather normally- the way two friends would. Could the two of them be good friends? She has never had a male friend because of her withdrawn personality, so the idea seemed exciting to her.

Another thought was clouding her mind. She told James she'd talk to Lily about him. What does that even mean? How would she even begin? "Oh, hey Lily, I was just wondering about your thoughts on your favourite 'arrogant toerag' as you like to call him"? First, that would make Lily rather suspicious as Salus has never shown interest in her love life before, and secondly, Lily would probably just ramble about how much he annoys her. So how could she start the conversation without drawing attention to herself?

"So, Lily," Alice interrupts the silent girls thoughts, and gives Lily a coy smile, "Has anybody asked you to go to Hogsmeade with them yet?"

"What are you talking about?" Lily asks, looking up from her work with a confused look.

Alice rolls her eyes, "I mean, has any guy asked you on a date yet?"

"No. Why would you think anyone would?"

A long grin spreads on Alice's face, "I overheard someone saying that Bertram Aubrey might ask you to Hogsmeade with him!"

"The seventh year?" Lily gasps in surprise, a small blush spreading on her face. Lily doesn't usually get embarrassed. She's been on dates with guys before, but Aubrey is an exceptionally attractive Ravenclaw who plays chaser for the Ravenclaw team. Whenever Lily or Alice go to one of their matches they usually end up talking about him for the entire game.

Alice nods enthusiastically with a quiet squeal of excitement, "If you guys started dating them we could go on double dates together!"

Lily rolls her eyes, but the slight tint in her cheeks remain, "I highly doubt he's going to ask me to Hogsmeade with him."

"Why?" Salus asks, deciding to partake in the conversation, "Lots of the guys here fancy you, why wouldn't he? Even Potter would probably kill to date you."

Lily looked down bashfully, "Well James doesn't count."

"Why not?" Salus asked, watching Lily's reaction closely, "He likes you, he has since first year."

The blush on Lily's cheeks flushed brighter than her hair and she replied, "Because I wouldn't date James."

A small smirk tugged on Salus' lips at her newly acquired knowledge. Lily does have a bit of a crush on James, she's just denying it. Alice and Salus share a subtle look, both thinking the same thing about their rather innocent redhead friend.

"Let's just drop it," Lily declares, and returned to her work. Alice giggled silently at her friend, but doesn't complain and goes back to work.

It's only a few minutes later that the four rowdy boys enter the Gryffindor common room. The three girls look up from their work as they enter, a small blush spreading on Lily's face when she notices James because of their conversation only a few minutes prior. She manages to look away before any of the marauders can notice her flustered expression, but Salus notices and snorts silently under her breath. Salus looks up at James to find him staring at her, once she looks up his eyes flicker to Lily and then back to Salus. He gives the subtle, silent signal of 'have you talked to her yet?'. Without the other girls noticing, Salus nods in response and writes in the corner of a piece of spare parchment 'wait till they leave'. James reads Salus' message over shoulder as he passes and sends a triumphant smirk to Sirius as they walk to the other side of the common room. While the three girls finish up their work, the four boys find different ways to entertain themselves in the common room. Remus works silently on an essay with the girls, his stuff spread out across the couch next to Salus. Peter plays wizards chess with another Gryffindor in the corner, and James and Sirius are huddled in a corner looking through a charms book from the library- probably looking for whatever they'll need for their next prank. Eventually the students that fill the common room start to thin out, heading to their dorm rooms for the night. Even Lily and Alice finish their work for the night and head off to their dorm room, Alice giving Salus a suggestive expression when she says she wants to study longer with Remus. Remus notices Alice's looks and flushes with embarrassment, but looks away before Salus can notice. The moment Lily and Alice have made it up the stairs and the door to the dorm clicked shut, James practically flew across the common room to stand in front of Salus. Sirius rolled his eyes at James but followed loyally after his friend.

"What did she say?" James asks, plopping down on an armchair facing the couch where Salus sat, and leaning forward excitedly.

"Who?" Salus asked, keeping a blank expression on her face.

"Lily!" James practically yelled.

"What about Lily?" Salus continued, seeing how far she could push James.

"What did she say!" James growled out, his frustration very obvious.

"What did who say?" Salus asked, managing to keep her face completely blank.

"Salus, just tell him already before he blows a blood vessel," Sirius laughed.

"Jeez, calm down, Potter," Salus smirked, "I'll tell you. I'm just wondering how much my knowledge is worth."

"I already agreed to help tutor you in potions!" James exclaimed.

"Well actually, I'm helping her with potions," Sirius pointed out.

"You're not helping, padfoot." James muttered.

"I mean," Salus interrupted the two, "I've gotten something extra, and I just want to know what you'll trade for it."

"Isn't studying enough?" He asked grumpily.

"Not even close, Potter." She immediately replied.

"Fine, Snape-"

"Don't call me Snape." Salus scowled.

"But you called me, Po-"

"Do not. . . call me . . . Snape. Ever" Salus growled in response.

James' eyes widened a bit in surprise, "Your disturbingly similar to Snivellus when you do that."

"Alright I'm out," Salus said, standing to her feet.

"Wait, wait, wait. I'm sorry." James quickly said, "C'mon, you promised."

Salus sent him an icy glare, "Fine."

She slumped back down onto the couch, "First off, if you want any information I'm setting some ground rules."

"Ground rules?" Peter asked with his nose crinkled in disgust.

"Did I stutter?" Salus asked coolly.

That managed to shut Peter up and he sat on the carpet silently, especially after receiving a warning glare from James and Sirius.

"I don't like speaking so I'm not repeating myself if you don't pay attention. One, I don't like being referred by my father's surname. You can call me Salus, Prince, or 'hey you'. Two, don't insult my brother in front of me again. No calling him Snivellus, or greasy haired git, and calm down with the pranks and jinxes against him. Do you even know how many bloody counter jinxes I've had to use just in the past month because of you prats?" Salus paused to lean back in the seat, taking a deep breath and having to clear her throat. She doesn't usually talk this much and it's already making her throat hurt, "Alright, so I've got two pieces of information that might interest you, but they're going to cost you."

"Alright," James said, and hesitates to think, "Well what do you want?"

"I want you to teach me how to become an animagus."


	3. Chapter 3

Salus had known of the marauders being animagus for over a year. She had seen them leave the castle more than once during the full moon, which raised her suspicions, and one night had seen them shift from the Gryffindor tower window. Plus the nicknames they gave each other was a bit of a hint; since Remus was moony it kind of gave away that the other three had some kind of secret form.

The three boys hesitated before responding, all sending reproachful glances at one another. Finally James decided to deny her claims, "We don't know what your talking about."

Salus huffed in annoyance, and leaned over the couch to grab her rucksack off the floor in front of the couch. After rummaging around in it, she pulled out a small sketchbook and flipped through it until she came to the right page. She turned it around to show the three animagus boys. The elaborate drawing was of a black dog running around a stag with a rat on its back; the angle that it was drawn from shows that she was high up, looking through the window of her dorm room.

"Padfoot," she said, pointing at the large black dog, "Wormtail," she points to the rat, "Prongs," she points at the stag- more specifically the stag's antlers.

The marauders all looked at her completely dumbstruck, and she can't blame them- she did just point out their biggest secret like it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Finally Sirius managed to sputter out, "How? I mean, how could you- what?"

"I'm more perceptive than I look," Salus responded, sending Remus a side glance, "But I won't tell anyone."

"How long have you known?" Peter asked, his face screwed up in a scowl.

"About a year now," Salus shrugged.

"What about Remus?" James suddenly asked with a hard voice, as if not believing she could know, earning a rather pale face from said boy, "If all of us are animagus, what's his animal?"

Salus hesitated, not wanting to reveal that she knows about his lycanthropy, but eventually flipped to a different page of her sketchbook. On the page is an extremely large wolf with greyish fur that shone blue in the moonlight. The drawing was enchanted to move so the great beast's head moved back and forth, taking in it's surroundings before looking out of the drawing at the observer. Remus' face paled and he looked like he was going to get sick. He swallowed heavily, his Adam's apple bobbing, before asking,

"How long?"

"Since second year," Salus answered, a hint of guilt seeping into her voice.

The pale boy nodded, a frown fixing on his face as he thinks, "I always thought it was James or Sirius leaving notes out for me, but didn't want to embarrass me, was that you?"

Salus nodded hesitantly, feeling ashamed from Remus' hurt expression, "I knew you wouldn't want me, or anybody else, to know so I pretended not to."

Remus nodded again, hesitates and then stands up, "I need to go think for a bit," he said with a hoarse voice before leaving for his dorm room.

The three boys watched his friend go up the stairs with heavy hearts and confused faces. Feeling rather uncomfortable, Salus said with a silent voice, "Perhaps I've said too much. Think over what I said and I'll talk to you once you've made your decision."

James nodded but didn't say anything else. Salus packed up her stuff into her rucksack and heads for the girls stairs. Before she goes up she turns to face them again, "I meant what I said, I won't tell anyone. Even if you decline."

They all look up at her from their spots on the couch and nod, almost thankfully.

"Tell Remus what I said and that I'm sorry for aggravating him." Salus murmured, her voice just loud enough for the boys to hear, and heads up the stairs to her dorm room.

The next day Salus was out of Gryffindor tower before anybody else had even awoken yet. She had never been a very sound sleeper and often suffered from horrible nightmares that plagued her mind. Often after having a poor night's sleep, like she had that night, she would wander the halls of the castle and watch the many portraits that decorate the walls. She'd had bad nights sleep from a young age so by now she'd figured out how to deal with them. Salus went to a muggle Doctor once and they told her she suffered from insomnia, and sometimes even night terrors. Luckily the night terrors stopped when she turned ten, but horrible nightmares still plagued her sleep and she would sometimes cry or call out in her sleep, so she puts a silencing charm around her bed every night just in case. Lily heard her whimper in her sleep only once in their third year when the charm had worn off, but Salus played it off as eating too many sweets the day before that gave her a stomach ache. Of course Severus knew of Salus' condition and had tried to make her drink various kinds of sleeping potions to get her through the night. They helped at first, but eventually the constant intake of potions took a strain on her body, forcing her to stop.

As she wandered aimlessly through the halls, staring out of the windows to watch as the sun struggled to raise above the horizon, the conversation from the night before kept pressing itself against her mind. Regret pulls at her chest, and she felt bad for startling Remus and the others so badly.

'I should have realized Remus would react badly,' Salus thought to herself, 'He's kept being a werewolf a secret since first year- probably longer- and obviously wouldn't want some stranger coming along and pointing it out like it's just a stain on his shirt. I should apologize to him properly.'

Deciding to try and make it up to him, Salus spun around in the middle of the hall and started to head back to Gryffindor Tower. When she entered the common room it was thankfully still empty as no normal student would be willing to wake up at that ungodly hour. Pulling out the same sketchbook from the night before, she ripped out the drawing of Remus' werewolf form- wincing a bit as she did. Pulling out a quill and ink, she quickly but neatly wrote on the back of the drawing,

'My deepest apologies, I didn't mean to bring you any form of discomfort.

Your secret is safe with me.

~S'

Pulling out her wand, Salus hesitantly cast two charms on it; the first to make the entire drawing destroy itself once Remus had read it, and the second to change the drawing into a small bird that flew up the boys stairway and up to Remus' dorm room. As much as it painedpp Salus to destroy one of her lovely pieces of artwork, she hoped that visibly destroying the drawing would show that she meant what she said. The second charm was simply because she felt extremely uncomfortable at the thought of going up to the boys' dorms. The sound of a door clicking open and shut from up the boys stairwell startled Salus and she quickly left the Common Room in case it was one of the marauders.

Most of the day passed slowly. None of the marauders approached Salus until lunch break. Salus had decided to spend her lunch reading "Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts" in the courtyard. The book was a gift she had received from Severus on their birthday. They both excelled in defence against the dark arts. Unfortunately it was only Salus of the two that was interested in the defensive part, and not just the dark arts.

The courtyard where she read was completely empty because most of the students were either studying or having lunch, and the rest didn't want to sit outside in the gloomy fall weather. Salus was in the middle of studying the illustration of the patronus charm when four presences stood before her. Her blue eyes looked up from her book and she met James' hazel eyes. She set her book down beside her to wait patiently for one of the four boys to speak first.

"Why do you want to be an animagus?" James asked the petite girl.

Salus already knew the answer to that question; she needed an escape. Her and Severus grew up in an extremely unstable home with two parents who constantly fought, and ignored or abused their children. Every year her parents gradually became worse and worse towards their children, but Salus had to take the most of their treatment. As a child, she was the stronger of the two twins and often tried to defend Severus the best she could, but that only made them vindictive and cruel. The last summer she had to spend in her parents home was long and painful, and she decided it would be the last. Salus decided a while ago that if she were to become an animagus, she could leave whenever she wanted to and no one could stop her. She'd be free of them.

Of course, she couldn't tell James or the other three boys that. It's none of their business, and they probably wouldn't care about her sob story. Her horrid home life was something only Severus and Lily would ever know.

Without a moment of hesitation, Salus lied, "It's quite useful, don't you think, to be able to turn into an animal at will? I'd prefer to achieve that without the ministry breathing down my neck. I already started the process around two months ago, and I hope to be finished before summer break."

James had a thoughtful expression on his face as he considered her reasonings before asking, "Why do you need our help? Surely you could figure it out on your own. You just said you've already been working on it for two months."

"Well unlike you three, I don't have anyone to help me in case something . . . goes wrong. The mandrake leaf was easy enough, but actually transforming can be dangerous. I only have Severus and Lily who would keep a secret for me, and both of them would be very cross with my decision so I'd rather they not know for now." Salus replied, this time truthfully.

The group of four boys all looked at each other, making small signals with their faces to talk without her listening. From what she could decipher with her ill knowledge of the boys; Peter was against the idea (which was a tad obvious because the boy was shaking his head quite violently), Remus was uncertain, Sirius was going along with James, and James thought it was a fantastic idea. Of course James wasn't thinking of possible dangers, just that he'd have a chance to get closer to Lily.

"Alright," James said, finally coming to a decision, "This is the deal then; we'll all help you become an animagus, and in return you're going to help me get on Lily's good graces."

Salus responded dryly, "Sounds fair considering both will take an annoying amount of time."

James rolled his eyes irritably before holding out his hand, "Deal?"

Salus hesitated before taking his hand, which was much larger than her's, and shaking it quickly, "Deal."

James folded his arms across his chest with a slight smirk of triumph, "Now what was it you were going to tell me yesterday."

Salus' lips twitched in the beginnings of a smirk, "Have you ever met Bertram Aubrey?"

Sirius' face turned into a frown for a second, "He's a Ravenclaw chaser, we had a game with him last year."

Salus nod, "Apparently he's planning on asking Lily to go to Hogsmeade with him on a date."

James eyes widened with a cross between shock and anger, but before he could say anything Salus interrupted him, "Listen, I've known Lily for years and I know how she reacts to a guy that she's actually interested in, and she didn't react that way to the thought of dating Aubrey."

"But isn't Aubrey really popular?" Peter commented, "I heard a bunch of girls gossiping about him at one of the quidditch games."

James flushed angrily.

"I suppose that's true," Salus said, watching James' reactions with interest, "But then I mentioned James asking her instead and her reaction was . . . slightly . . . better."

All the anger cleared from James' expression and was replaced by giddy surprise, "Really?"

"Yes, but she refused to speak about it any further so that's all I know for now," Salus replied, "My advice; see if the Aubrey rumour is true or not and deal with it accordingly, or ask her yourself. But there's the risk she'll say no if you just ask her. Which she probably will."

James nod, his expression similar to that of a small child on Christmas, "Alright. Thanks, Salus. I've got books on transfiguration and animagi in my trunk that you'll have to read. I'll get them to you sometime tonight."

With those as the groups parting words, the four boys made their way across the courtyard and towards the castle.

"Don't forget one of you owe me a potions study session." Salus called to the boys as they began to leave.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll meet you in the library at 4 o'clock," Sirius called over his shoulder uncaringly.

Salus hummed in response and went back to reading her book once again.

Just as Sirius had promised, Salus found him waiting for her in the library at precisely 4 o'clock. His feet were kicked up on the table and he leaned back in his chair so two of the legs weren't touching the ground. Luckily he was in a more secluded part of the library, and was less likely to get lectured by the librarian for sitting incorrectly. His potions books and a few pages of notes were set across the table along with spare parchment and a quill and ink bottle.

Salus had no problem with following the instructions in making a potion. Her problem was remembering the different ingredients and how they effected potions differently or react with other ingredients, along with poison antidotes. So while she can get a good mark on the potions she's made, her quizzes and written tests were severely lacking. Luckily they could study this section of potions just in the library instead of having to ask permission from professor Slughorn to work in the potions room.

Sirius' grey eyes met Salus' as she approached his table. His lips pulled back into a cocky smirk and he sent the girl a flirty wink, "You come here often?"

"We're in the bloody library, what do you think?" Salus muttered irritably under her breath as she sat at the table.

Sirius' eyes widened in surprise, but his smirk grew even further to show off an annoyingly perfect smile, "Well who knew the silent, little lion had some teeth?"

Salus sent him a cold glare while she pulled out all of the books from her rucksack along with a quill and a bottle of ink. Sirius shrugged off her cold look and leaned forward on the table.

"So what is my superior intellect needed for today?" Sirius asked, pretending to adjust glasses that weren't actually on his face.

"Are you comparing your intellect to that of a giant's?" Salus asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"You are the one who came to me for help, so who's the one with a giant's intellect?" Sirius pointed out, copying her movement and quirking an eyebrow.

Salus felt her ears burn with embarrassment. She didn't exactly enjoy looking inferior when it came to her grades, especially in front of someone as egotistical as Sirius Black.

"Let's just get to work, Black," Salus muttered, letting her dark hair cascade in front of her face a bit as she opened up her books.

"Whatever you say, little lion," he chuckled.

They worked for over an hour on Salus' revision work. Sirius was surprisingly good at explaining the material, and it made much more sense then when Lily or Severus tried to teach her. Unlike their initial meeting in the library, Sirius also managed to stay rather mature while he was explaining everything to the girl (of course, he would slip in a mock-flirty comment whenever he could), but Salus concluded it was probably because of boredom. The sun could be seen just reaching the tops of the mountains surrounding Hogwarts when they decided to call it quits. Salus shut all of her books with a huff, and began to pack them away.

"You know, these are pretty good," Sirius said idly, "A bit dark though."

Salus, who was looking down at her rucksack, looked up in confusion. Dread with a mixture of horror washed over her when her eyes met the sketchbook in Sirius' hands. He was flipping through it with a small smile tugged at his lips, not realizing how much it bothered Salus. She leapt up and managed to snatch it from his grip, her entire face on fire.

"T-that's not yours to touch!" Salus tried to scold, but her voice came out weak and stuttered.

Sirius looked surprised at her small outburst and he felt a bit guilty when he saw how uncomfortable she was. Salus quickly shoved the sketchbook back into her rucksack, letting her black hair fall around her face like a curtain. She never let anyone look inside her sketchbooks, unlike the pictures pasted on the wall around her bed, the ones in her books were a lot more personal. Letting a person look at some of her pictures is like letting them pick at her head to find any and every mental instability she may be carrying.

"Sorry," Sirius apologized, but didn't seem to fully understand why the girl was so upset, "I didn't realize they were that important to you."

"Just forget it," Salus muttered, trying to keep the venom from her voice, "Thanks for the help."

Salus quickly marched out of the library, ignoring a very stunned Sirius as she left. She could still feel the redness of her face which contrasted with her pale skin and made it only more noticeable. Her eyebrows were scrunched up in a frustrated frown, and she held her rucksack closely to herself as if someone were trying to take it from her. Her drawings were her own sense of therapy and had her fears, hopes, and angers hidden within each and every one. They displayed her need for freedom from her abusive home, and the darkness that had once plagued her mind like a giant stain. They weren't something she ever wanted to share.

The empty corridor that Salus strode down echoed faintly with each step. She tried to keep her head down in case anybody happened to walk past, they hopefully wouldn't see her red face and tear filled eyes. She didn't allow any tears to actually fall, but they made her eyes burn and the embarrassment from it made them water even more.

"Salus?" A voice called from the other end of the corridor, followed by approaching footsteps.

The urge to run in the other direction or try to escape out a window filled Salus at the person's presence. Eventually the footsteps stopped right in front of her, but she kept her head turned away.

"What's wrong, Salus?" Remus asked with a expression of genuine concern for the girl.

"Nothing," Salus replied, not looking the boy in the eyes.

"You know, that'd almost be believable if you weren't nearly crying," Remus said softly, the hint of humour in his voice.

"I'm not crying," Salus denied with a silent huff, "I'm fine. I was just feeling emotional, don't worry about it."

Remus hesitated, looking as if he didn't know how to handle the situation before asking, "Why were you nice to me?"

Salus met Remus' gaze now, and was surprised by the determination hidden in his green eyes.

"What do you mean?" Salus asked, forgetting for a moment why she was upset.

"You've known about. . . what I am since second year, but you never treated me any different. Why?" Remus asked again, the slightest hint of fear showing for what her answer might be.

"Why would I treat you any different?" Salus asked as if it were a ridiculous question, "So what if you turn all fluffy once a month?"

"Because I'm a monster," Remus said, his voice lowered and emotionless, "I could seriously hurt someone, don't you understand that?"

Salus scoffed, making Remus eyes snap open in surprise, "Hardly. You colour code your notes, Remus. That doesn't exactly make me want to scream 'monster' and run away."

Remus looked down, a blush dusting across his cheeks, "Some would disagree."

"Then they've obviously never seen a real monster before," Salus said shaking her head.

A small smile tugged at Remus' lips, and he grabbed Salus' hands and began walking her back the way he came. Salus didn't mind, and followed willingly, but asked, "Where are we going?"

"The kitchens," Remus replied a small grin on his lips, "I find hot chocolate helps after feeling 'emotional'."

Salus couldn't help but smile at the boys kind gesture, "That sounds nice."


	4. Chapter 4

_An endless darkness is all that fell in Salus' view. Her heart hammered against her chest and her breath came out in quick, uneven pants. Her hands slid across the walls that encased her, so cramped that both shoulders nearly touched the wooden walls. Salus could feel the dirt and grit that coated the wooden planks and knew that the small encasement she was being held in was filthy. Her heart began to beat even faster. She felt herself overheating, making sweat drip down her forehead and off her chin. She felt as if her laboured pants weren't doing anything at all, that her lungs were ruined and couldn't take in any air. The darkness that surrounded her was suddenly broken by a sliver of light shining through the wood planks. She held her blue eye as close as she could to the crack between the planks. The silhouette of a tall, built man shadowed her light and slowly came closer and closer._

" _LET ME OUT, YOU BASTARD! LET ME OUT!" Salus felt the words rip from her throat before she could stop them, her lips curled back over her teeth in a vicious animalistic snarl and a searing hatred burning in her stomach that completely overtook her. Her fists banged against the wooden walls ma_ king them shake unsteadily.

 _The man's silhouette 'tsk'ed impatiently and a low gravelly voice spoke out, "Looks like you still haven't learned any respect. You can stay in here all night if you like, but you're not coming out until you learn to cooperate."_

 _"FUCK YOU!" Salus screamed, panic and hatred mixing in her chest, but the words came out sobbed and hoarse as tears streamed down her cheeks, "FUCK YOU!"_

 _The silhouette started to walk away, becoming smaller and smaller until it was gone, taking the light with it. Salus continued to pound her fist against the walls around her, but she had too little space and couldn't hit it properly. Eventually her hands became raw and started to bleed as she hit the rough wooden planks over and over again in hopes of release. But none ever came. She was trapped. Stuck in a cage with no door, no windows, and no light._

 _._

Salus shot up in bed with a loud gasp. Her heart was hammering against her rib cage so hard she was worried one of the other girls could hear it from their beds. She was covered in a sticky cold sweat that stuck her hair to her forehead and cheeks. Salus had to rest herself for a moment to let herself calm down so her heart rate could lower. Once she calmed herself down a violent shiver passed through her, a chill settling on her skin. She reached out for her nightstand and had to grope around through the darkness until her hands finally touched her wand. She brought it up and undid the silencing charm around her bed. Knowing she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep no matter what time it was, she silently got out of bed and grabbed her Gryffindor robes. She crept quietly into the washroom and closed the door with a silent 'click'. Salus put another silencing charm on the washroom door so the other girls wouldn't hear the shower running. She quickly showered and changed into her robes. She brushed out her long black hair in the mirror, not bothering to dry it properly. Her damp hair clung to her head in wavy clumps, making her ears peak through a bit. While one ear was normal, the other was horribly scarred. The scar that disfigured her ear travelled down the side of her neck and a small piece of her shoulder. Luckily her long black hair covered all the damage that had been inflicted upon her so no one noticed it. Sighing exhaustedly, Salus put away her toiletries and dropped the silencing charm on the door. Pocketing her wand, she slid back into the dorm room and grabbed one of her books off the nightstand before going down to the common room. The fire in the fireplace had long since gone out, so Salus threw on a couple logs, pointed her wand at them and whispered, 'incendio'. The logs immediately caught fire and the common room was soon bathed in its cozy heat. Salus curled herself up on one of the couches and opened her book. The book was one of the many tombs James gave her a few days ago, and she was nearly finished reading them all. She put fake covers on all of them since they were books she shouldn't be seen reading, and because she had some snoopy dorm mates.

Salus sat and enjoyed the peaceful silence of the common room so early in the morning, or late at night. She didn't have a watch and it was too dark out to tell the difference quite yet. She didn't mind though. Staying awake was better than having nightmares, even if it did make her unreasonably tired.

Salus was surprised when the silence was broken by a door clicking shut from the boys stairs. Her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion as a pair of feet came down the stairs.

"Remus, what are you doing up?" Salus asked in a hushed tone once the boy reached the bottom of the stairs, making him jump in surprise.

"I could ask you the same thing," Remus replied, walking over to sit on the seat across from her.

"Nightmare," Salus replied as if it were a normal occurrence, which is was, but Remus didn't know that, "Couldn't fall back asleep."

"You alright?" He asked concerned.

"Of course," Salus lied, "Why are you up so early?"

"Feeling restless," Remus muttered, rubbing the back of his neck uneasily, "Because of the . . . well you know, is tomorrow- well technically tonight."

"Are you alright?" Salus asked, putting down her book.

"Yeah," Remus said, nodding his head for emphasis, although Salus didn't quite believe him, "I'll be okay."

"Alright," Salus said uncertainly, "well if you need any help I'm here, though I don't think I could do all that much."

"Thanks," Remus replied, an embarrassed flush dusting his cheeks.

Salus nodded before asking, "What time do you think is it?"

"James clock read 4:38 when I got up, so it's probably around 4:50," Remus answered, "How long have you been down here?"

"Not sure," Salus responded and looked down at her book to see how far she had read already and tried to calculate it in her head, "Around 45 minutes, I think, maybe an hour."

Remus' eyebrows raise in surprise, "Aren't you tired?"

"Not really," Salus replied, partially lying, "I usually wake up early."

Remus nodded uncertainly, "What was your nightmare about?"

"Fighting a dragon and a hoard of acromantula." Salus lied again. Remus looked a tad confused so she clarified, "Acromantula are really big spiders."

Remus nodded slowly and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms loosely over his chest, "I hope you realize that I can tell when you're lying."

"What do you mean?" Salus asked, keeping a straight face.

"When people lie their heart rates increase," Remus explained and pointed at his ear, "Heightened senses. You lied just now, and when James asked you why you want to be an animagus."

Salus flushed in embarrassment from being caught in a lie, and looked away. Remus chuckled dryly, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I won't tell the others."

Salus hesitated before saying, "My nightmare was of being locked in a box."

"That doesn't sound that bad," Remus replied, trying to sound sympathetic but humour was also laced in his tone, "sounds a lot less scary than giant spiders."

"Perhaps to you," Salus replied cooly, "But I'm not a very big fan of being stuffed in a locked box."

"Are you claustrophobic?" Remus asked in a surprised tone.

"A bit, yeah," Salus admitted.

"Oh," Remus replied, looking surprised she had told him.

"I don't care if you know," Salus said, shrugging her shoulders impassively, "It's not a big deal."

Remus paused, "You lied again."

"Well let's pretend that I didn't," She responded.

"I suppose," Remus said with a frown, "If that's what you want."

"It is," Salus said, that time speaking the truth.

Remus nodded stiffly, but looked uncomfortable at the thought of the girl lying about her nightmares. Before he could ask her any more questions, a click sounded from the boys stairwell once again. Footsteps sounded coming down the stairs rather quickly. Sirius entered the common room and looked frantically around the room. His robes looked as if they were thrown on in a rush and his hair was unbrushed and nearly as wild as James'.

Once his eyes landed on Remus he stalked forward, "Moony, you alright? Your bed was empty so I thought-"

"I'm fine, padfoot," Remus replied, "I was just feeling restless."

Sirius nodded stiffly before he caught Salus' gaze, "Why are you awake?"

"I suppose I was feeling restless as well," Salus replied.

Sirius nodded in understanding before flopping onto the couch next to her. He picked up the book next to her and looked to see what page she was on.

"I remember this one," he mutters, rubbing some sleep from his eye with his free hand, "How many books are left after this one?"

"None," Salus replied casually.

Sirius looks over at her with a shocked expression, "You read all of them already? It's only been three days."

Salus nodded, "I'm a fast reader."

"I'll say," Sirius muttered under his breath, "Took me two weeks to read those damn books."

He places the book on the table sitting next to the couch before flopping down and placing his head in Salus' lap.

"What are you doing?" Salus asked irritably.

"Sleeping," he replied with a smirk, closing his grey eyes.

"Go sleep in your bed then," Salus said, growing more and more annoyed by the second.

"But I don't want to wake up James and Peter," Sirius replied, looking up at her and jutting out his lip dramatically in a pout, "Plus your lap is so comfy."

Salus was going to argue with him and maybe even shove him off for extra measure, but she noticed the tired bags under his eyes and felt a twinge of sympathy. She sighed irritably, "Fine, you big baby, but the second someone comes down the stairs I'm liable to shove you off as hard as I can."

"Deal," he muttered back, closing his eyes and nearly instantly falling asleep because of his exhaustion.

"Is he always like this?" Salus asked Remus, who starred at his friend with a surprised and slightly angry expression.

"Unfortunately," he muttered back.

Salus hummed in response, before a long smirk spread on her face, "I just thought of something very mean."

.

"Salus whatever-your-middle-name-is Snape!" A voice rang through the crowded Great Hall.

"I wondered how long it'd take him to notice," Salus muttered to Remus who sat across from her at the Gryffindor table, eating his breakfast and having to stifle a laugh.

Lily, who sat next to Salus, looked up in confusion but slapped her hand over her mouth to stifle her laughs when she saw who it was. James had a similar reaction but instead of trying to stifle himself, he let out a roaring laugh that filled the great hall and called even more attention to the furious man stalking toward us. Peter's eyes widened in surprise and he snorted unattractively before letting out a loud laugh.

Sirius' eyebrows were scrunched together in fury, and a slight blush dusted his cheeks. The reason for the groups laughter were the many braids that decorated Sirius' long, black hair, that were filled with as many small, bright white flowers and leaves that Salus could fit. The best part was that she charmed his hair to stay that way for at least 6 hours. Just enough time for him to go to all of his classes.

"What the bloody hell did you do!?" He growled at Salus as he slammed himself down at the table, "Fix it!"

"I don't know what you mean, Black." Salus replied airily, a small smirk pulling at her lips, "Hasn't your hair always been . . . floral?"

"I was sleeping on your lap and woke up like this with some first year git's laughing at me," Salus growled with a frown, "I can't figure out how to undo it so fix it!"

"Wait," James said, still chuckling under his breath, "Salus did this?"

"He's a surprisingly deep sleeper," Salus smirked.

"She did that to me last year for spilling a potion on her," Lily said from a short ways down the table with Alice, and rolled her eyes, "Except she somehow got my hair to look like cat ears. Thankfully it was on a weekend so no one saw."

"How did you undo it?" Sirius asked her hopefully.

Lily shrugged her shoulders, "I didn't, it fixed itself after about five hours."

"Six, actually," Salus corrected while picking at her breakfast.

"My hair is stuck like this for six hours!?" Sirius exclaimed, "All I did was sleep on your lap!"

"Why exactly did you do that to begin with?" Lily asked him, raising her eyebrows suggestively, "Sleep on her lap, I mean."

"I was tired," Sirius grumbled.

"I don't know why you're complaining," Salus teased, "The flowers bring out your complexion. If anything I did you a favour."

"I'll get you back for this, Salus," Sirius grumbled under his breath as he scooped some eggs onto his plate.

.

That night was the full moon, and like she did every full moon, Salus gazed out into the forbidden forest from the tower window in her dorm room. The rest of her dorm mates had luckily already fallen asleep, so Salus was able to watch without any disturbance. She saw the three boys travel to the Whomping Willow tree where the secret passage to the Shrieking Shack was and follow in after Remus who had entered much earlier in the evening with Madam Pomfrey's assistance. Once in awhile Salus would catch a glimpse of the group of animals running through the woods, thankfully smart enough to know not to go too far in because of the centaurs, acromantulas, and whatever else lived in the forbidden forest. With her sketchbook resting in her lap, Salus quickly sketched out the group whenever they came into view with coloured pastels. The pictures were rushed since the animals were constantly moving, and a bit smudged because of her messy material, but they were beautiful nonetheless. Eventually Salus was overcome with exhaustion and had to retreat to her bed, thinking of how much fun she'll have when she can run with them as an animagus. Along with that, she dreamed of the freedom she'd finally hold.

.

The next morning Remus wasn't in the great hall for breakfast for obvious reasons, and the other three boys looked terribly tired. Lily assumed the boys were acting so sluggish because they had been partying or causing some kind of mayhem throughout the castle, and Salus just nodded along as the redhead ranted angrily- deciding it best not to correct her or egg her on even more. After transfiguration Salus had free time meant for studying, but decided instead to go check on Remus in the Hospital Wing. Salus had only been in the Hospital Wing twice, once when Lily accidentally spilt a hot potion on her and she got a burn, and another time when she had fallen off her broom in fourth year, only having survived because Severus had been there to catch her with a spell. Salus hadn't flown since.

Just like the last time she was in the Hospital Wing, everything was meticulously tidy due to Madam Pomfrey's good care. The matron almost didn't let Salus in, saying that Remus needed rest, but she managed to convince the older woman when she promised to only stay for a few minutes. Salus hesitantly made her way over to where Remus was sleeping. Before she made a deal with James and revealed that she new the marauders secret, she never actually got to visit him like this. She never really saw how bad his injuries were because Madam Pomfrey usually patched most of them up before he would return. Salus' eyes widened when they landed on Remus' form. His face is covered in terrible gashes and bruises, his face fixed in a pained frown even in his sleep. His torso and arms were covered by his pale blue, striped pyjamas, but his hands look just as rough as his face. Multiple healing potions were resting on his bedside table, but they all take time so he wouldn't be healed until the end of the day. A couple of bandages covered the worse of the gashes, which were luckily only a few. A wince of sympathy pinched in Salus chest, having been in a similar position once or twice but not from the same origin as lycanthropy.

Deciding not to impose any longer and potentially awaken Remus, Salus reached into her rucksack and pulled out the transfiguration notes she had copied down for him and placed it on his bedside table along with a chocolate frog packet that she had bought in Hogsmeade. She was just leaving and closing the curtains that surrounded the bed when Remus tossed in his sleep. Salus paused so she wouldn't make any more noise, but it was too late and Remus' green eyes squinted before opening. Salus noticed the gold flecks that decorated his eyes seemed to burn brightly for a moment before returning back to their normal green colour. Remus looked around drowsily before his eyes landed on Salus.

"Sorry," Salus winced with a quiet voice, "I didn't mean to wake you, I just wanted to drop off your notes."

"It's fine," Remus groaned, "It was a restless sleep anyways."

He pulled himself up unsteadily, the action pulling at his shirt to reveal that the first few buttons were undone and showed off part of his chest. What would have been a lean, yet muscular chest, was hidden by the purple splotch of a bruise. Luckily once Remus settled himself the clothing went back to its original position and hid the section of his chest, and made the butterflies in Salus' stomach stop spasming.

Salus nodded, and sat in a chair beside the bed, feeling a tad uncomfortable being the only one standing, "How are you feeling?"

He shrugged his shoulders and looked away, "Alright, I guess."

A small smirk tugged at Salus' lips, "Who's the liar now?"

"That obvious?" He chuckled, but winced at the action and rubbed his side with his hand.

Salus let out a silent, throaty chuckle, "I'll help you perfect your poker face later."

Standing from her chair, Salus strung her rucksack over her shoulder, "I've got to go, I promised Lily I'd work with her on Charms essay before class. I just wanted to stop by to drop off your notes."

A small, almost unnoticeable, pout formed on Remus' lips but he smothered it with a small smile. Salus was a little shocked from his reaction, but a small smile tugged at her lips and she said, "I'll come back with more of your notes after charms, if that's alright?"

"Thanks," he murmured, looking down as red dusted his cheeks.

Salus left the Hospital Wing with a very small but cheerful smile plastered on her face, and the butterflies from before fluttering around her stomach. She made her way towards the library where she promised to meet Lily, a strange light feeling swimming through her head.

 _'I suppose Remus and I could be considered friends,'_ Salus thought to herself, ' _What exactly defines when two people are friends? We've studied together, spoken about personal issues before; his lycanthropy and my nightmares, I enjoy his company and I'd like to think he enjoys mine as well. That is what friends are, right? That's what I have with Lily, but I've known Lily for much longer, so would it be appropriate to think Remus and I are friends? Maybe I should ask Lily. . .'_

 _._

 _ **A/N** : I'm kind of iffy about how this chapter turned out so if you have any comments or suggestions I am open to criticism. Thank you to everyone leaving reviews, your positivity is very much appreciated._

 _I have already written roughly eleven chapters for this fic, but will start updating it weekly so I have time to write further and hopefully stay on a schedule._


	5. Chapter 5

Just as Sirius promised when Salus had dared to braid and flower his hair, for the next couple of weeks, the two of them were in an on going war. Sirius would put a sticking charm on Salus' chair or sneak a dung bomb into her rucksack, and in return, Salus would do things like hex Sirius so he could only sing the national anthem, or turn all of his robes to Hufflepuff yellow and black. Both of them spent an unnecessary amount of time looking up worse and worse hexes and jinxes to use on each other in the library, slowly taking their pranks further and further.

During said weeks, James decided to 'have a chat' with Bertram Aubrey, the boy who was going to ask Lily to Hogsmeade. It was only later that Salus found out 'have a chat' meant 'use an illegal hex on the boy and earn double detention', which happened to be on the day of the Hogsmeade trip. Alice was beyond disappointed to lose having a potential double date with Lily, but Lily seemed a bit relieved that Bertram didn't ask her. Luckily Lily didn't hear about what had happened to Aubrey to stop him from asking her, or else James would have sunk even further in Lily's eyes. Salus worked relentlessly on becoming an animagus, shortening how long it will take. Her first transformation was going to be soon, or so she hoped; according to the books it would only happen for a second before she'd turn back, and each time she would do it she would slowly become increasingly better until she won't even need her wand. The first few times is supposed to be exhausting, and she won't turn into a full animal. Only small things will happen, like the flash of her animal's eye colour or a patch of fur (or whatever the animal wasn't covered in) will quickly appear and then disappear. This is the stage where something could possibly go wrong, so Salus was a bit worried, but James and Sirius reassured her that everything would be fine.

It was on their third week of Salus' and Sirius' ongoing prank war when Professor McGonagall finally had enough. She caught them duelling in a corridor right after Salus had used the horn-growing hex on Sirius, making giant antlers sprout from his head. Of course, she couldn't be the only one getting a hit in, so Sirius sent back a tail-growing hex. A long, fluffy black tail sprouted from Salus' backside and peaked out from under her robes. Salus gasped when she was struck by the curse and let out a silent growl at the smirking Sirius (who looked just as goofy as the tailed girl because of the antlers sprouting from his head).

Salus glared at him, "You arrogant son of a b-"

"Miss Snape! Mr Black!" McGonagall's voice filled the corridor and muffled any curses falling from Salus' mouth, "What in Merlin's beard do you think you're doing!?"

"Just some harmless, flirty banter, professor," Sirius said, smirking at Salus who in return glared angrily.

"Want some hooves to match the antlers, Bambi?" Salus muttered threateningly under her breath so McGonagall couldn't hear.

"What's a Bambi?" He replied with a confused expression.

By this time McGonagall had reached them, and stared down her glasses at them looking very cross. Sirius and Salus had already exchanged a number of foul words to each other. McGonagall huffed angrily, "As sixth years you are role models for the younger students, and for your house! What do you think you're doing, fighting like children in the middle of the corridors!?"

"I was thinking that she'd have given up by now," Sirius muttered under his breath.

"You wish," Salus retorted in a low voice.

"Alright, that's enough!" McGonagall snapped, "I expect to see the two of you in my office after dinner for detention, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, professor," Sirius grumbled, and Salus simply nodded along.

With an angry huff and the swish of her cloak, McGonagall was marching furiously down the corridor. Salus and Sirius were left by themselves in an awkward silence, Sirius looking incredibly silly because of the antlers sprouting from his head, and Salus holding the end of the tail that would drag on the floor if she didn't. Sirius stared at Salus for a moment with a blank, calculating expression on his face.

"So," he began, finally breaking their seemingly unending silence, "What's a Bambi?"

"Muggle story about a deer," Salus replied with the same expressionless blankness.

Sirius nodded in understanding, and paused for a moment before saying, "Way for McGonagall to ruin all our fun."

"Agreed," Salus replied, "Especially after a three week streak, I didn't think we'd last this long before a professor caught us. Guess we took it a tad far."

"You know how to undo this, right?" Sirius asked, pointing at the antlers on top of his head.

"Of course," Salus answered, while using the counter-hex for the tail growth hex on herself, "I'm not so immature as to learn a hex and not learn the counter to it as well."

"Oh, good. Can you fix it?"

"The problem is," Salus continued, "I am immature enough to leave you like this. See you at dinner, Bambi."

Without another word, Salus spun on her heel and ran down the corridor, leaving a very stunned Sirius behind. It was just as she turned the corner that she heard him yell a loud, "OI!", after her. She laughed silently under her breath and kept moving at a fast pace until she knew for sure that he didn't try to run after her.

She turned another corner to head in the direction of the great hall, but found her path blocked by a group of Slytherins. There were seven Slytherins, three girls and four boys. Severus was at the front of the group, and looked rather surprised by Salus' sudden appearance. The girls in the group of Slytherins sneered silently at her, knowing not to taunt Salus in front of her very protective brother, but obviously weren't happy about it. The boys in the group, however, raked their eyes over the girls form, small smirks tugging at their lips. Unlike Sirius' flirty smirks, the Slytherin boys' expressions made Salus very uncomfortable. It was not deniable that Salus was attractive; even with a short figure she was pleasantly skinny, unlike her brother Salus' hair was sleek and smooth, and her light skin was creamy and appeared free of any noticeable blemishes or scars. It was because of the cold attitude she showed to people she didn't consider a friend, that hardly anyone tried to approach her.

Noticing the stares Salus was getting from the Slytherins, Severus scowled angrily at them and stalked towards his sister. He took her elbow gently and began leading her protectively towards the Great Hall.

"Bloody pigs," Severus grumbled angrily under his breath, along with a string of silent curses.

"It's not a big deal, Sev," Salus told him while having a hard time keeping up with his longer strides, "It's not like they'd do anything while you're around anyways."

"Are you suggesting they would if I weren't there?" He hissed underneath his breath, not looking at the girl and keeping his gaze fixed ahead.

"I'm just saying that they probably wouldn't attack the sister of one of their own lot," Salus muttered with a frustrated tone to her voice, "Unless we were in a row or I did something to them first. We've had this conversation before, brother."

Severus sniffed angrily under his breath in disagreement, "It doesn't help when you've started conversing with Potter and his lap dogs."

Salus looks up at Severus in surprise, her blue eyes widened in shock.

"Oh yes, I've noticed. Nearly half the school has," Severus nearly spat with venom seeping into his tone, "You should hear what some of the Slytherins are saying about it, about you running around the castle with that group of- of arrogant prats!"

Salus hesitated before murmuring under her breath, ". . .They're not all that bad, just like pranks and jokes is all."

Severus scoffed loudly, "They're bloody imbeciles is what they are! Don't go hanging around their lot anymore, sister. They're nothing but trouble and will drag you in with them. It will make the both of us look bad in front of others."

'Look bad in front of Slytherins you mean,' Salus thought to herself, but said nothing else besides a silent, obedient, "Yes, brother," knowing saying anything else would just fall on deaf ears.

Salus' dinner was filled with silence. Severus was unhappy with her and didn't want to talk, but she didn't feel like speaking anyways. Her insides twisted in on themselves uncomfortably, ruining her appetite. She didn't want to go against her brother's wishes and make him upset, but she was enjoying the company of the marauders- even Peter was starting to grow on her after the short three weeks. Plus with the deal she made with James she would have to spend time with them. But doing that would make Severus upset, and the thought of that made her upset as well. After protecting each other for so many years; whether that be from their parents or from other Hogwarts students, they almost always had each others backs and hardly ever fought. The only time Severus would become angry with Salus is when she mentioned Gryffindors, especially the marauders.

Sirius entered the Great Hall with the antlers still atop his head, making Professor McGonagall upset again, and tried to get Salus' attention from across the room at the Gryffindor table. Salus ignored him though, and when the other marauders joined in the game of trying to catch her attention, she ignored them as well. Eventually, with the help of Lily and Alice telling the boys off, they gave up trying to engage Salus in their foolery. She was glad that Severus didn't notice since his back was turned to them, but some of the Slytherins sitting next to her did and sneered angrily.

On the other side of the hall, Salus' sudden mood change did not go unnoticed. Remus was watching the girl from across the room with concern, his eyebrows furrowed together slightly. Even Sirius, who was still a little cross about the antlers (even though McGonagall got rid of them), was a tad concerned for the girl they all barely knew.

"It's weird," Sirius muttered to the other three friends, "Salus was in a good mood not even 20 minutes ago. She even smiled- that's like seeing the Giant Squid!"

"It's probably because she has to sit with all those snakes," James joked, "That would ruin anyone's mood."

"Not to mention Snivellus," Peter added with a silent snort.

The group of boys, mostly James and Sirius, kept doing things to try and catch the girls attention while simultaneously trying to not get caught by a professor. Eventually Lily had enough of them when she noticed Salus' head sink lower down, her embarrassment of what the boys were doing clear from even across the room.

"Will you lot quit it already!" Lily exclaimed, giving them all a frustrated glare, "She's obviously in a bad mood and you're making it worse! Just leave her alone for a bit."

"How could she be in a bad mood? She was happy a few minutes ago!" Sirius argued.

"She just gets like that sometimes," Lily says, "The best thing to do is just leave her alone."

After dinner, Salus and Sirius walked down to Professor McGonagall's office for their detention. Salus had never been given a detention before because of her usually reserved attitude, so she didn't know what to expect. Sirius, on the other hand, was always getting in trouble and knew every kind of punishment the professors gave. So while Sirius wasn't bothered in the least, Salus was fidgeting nervously. Complete dread washed over her, and she wrung her hands and played with the sleeves of her robes, trying to distract herself in any way she could.

"Calm down, little lion," Sirius chuckled, "It's just a detention."

Salus glared over at him and muttered a silent, "I really hate that name," under her breath.

"Well why do you think I call you it?" Sirius smirked, which was met with a deadly look from Salus.

"What's got you in a foul mood?" Sirius asked, the smirk slipping from his face slightly, "We were having a right fun time just this afternoon."

"Nothing," Salus muttered, "I feel absolutely glorious going to detention."

"Well no need to be sassy," Sirius rolled his eyes, "It's just detention."

"Yes, I realize you're very familiar with it."

"But of course," Sirius said as if it were something to be immensely proud about and gave the shorter girl a cheeky wink, "And if you stick with me then you will be too."

Salus scoffed silently under her breath, "I've figured that out, my brother did as well."

Sirius' head went back in a barking laugh and asked, "Is that so? What did poor Sni- Severus have to say about that? I'm guessing it got his knickers all in a twist."

". . . That's one way of wording it, I suppose," Salus huffed, "He definitely wasn't pleased."

"Is that why you're in such a foul mood?" Sirius asked, the same humour in his tone, "Big brother have a tantrum because you're hanging out with the big bad marauders?"

"Little brother," Salus corrected, "I'm twelve minutes older."

"Perhaps, but when you take size into account I don't think the twelve minutes counts for much," Sirius laughed again.

Salus whacked Sirius on the arm, "That's bloody rude."

Sirius grabbed his forearm as if he were in a tremendous amount of pain and gasped loudly, pulling a hurt-puppy face, "You've wounded me! I think my arm is broken! Call a healer!"

Salus rolled her eyes and couldn't help the small smile that slipped onto her face. Sirius immediately broke from the act and pointed at her face, "There's the smile I've been looking for."

Salus rolled her eyes at him again, along with giving him another light whack on the arm, "Stop goofing around or we'll be late and McGonagall will give us another detention."

Sirius grabbed his arm again, "Why must you keep hurting me, woman!?"

Salus shook her head and began to walk faster, leaving a pouting Sirius behind.

"Wait!" He called dramatically, "You have to kiss my arm better! C'mon, Salus, don't just leave the wounded by themselves!"

Detention with Sirius was horrible. Him and Salus ended up being late because of Sirius' antics, and when questioned by McGonagall for their lateness, Sirius decided it funny to answer with "Just a lovers spat, professor. Salus wouldn't kiss my arm better after fatally wounding me." Of course neither McGonagall or Salus found that very funny. Because of that they ended up having to spend two hours cleaning all the trophies in the trophy case. Without magic. They might have finished within an hour if it weren't for Sirius continuing to goof around when McGonagall wasn't paying attention.

Once the two of them were finally released they made their way towards the Gryffindor Common Room. They both felt tired from their detention chore, but Salus' brain felt beyond awake. She already knew from experience that even if she managed to make herself feel sleepy and laid in bed, she wouldn't be able to fall asleep for many hours. Salus stopped walking for a moment and looked out one of the decorated glass windows to the grounds outside. The moon was almost full and was just beginning to peek out from over the Forbidden Forest, and lit up the grounds brilliantly. The urge to grab her sketchbook and spend the night trying to perfectly etch the beauty of the forest into its paper over took Salus, making her hands almost itch with excitement. She had kept her rucksack with her during their detention and rummaged through it to see if she had any of her sketchbooks with her. Spotting one of them along with a few nice pencils and some charcoal she kept in a small case, a smile tugged at her lips. Tomorrow there wasn't any classes, so even if she were tired from staying up too long, she could just sleep in.

"Alright?" Sirius drawled with a yawn, stopped as well to wait for the girl.

Salus had almost forgotten in her trance that Sirius was with her and looked at him in surprise. She nodded, "Yes, sorry my mind was wandering. I'll see you tomorrow."

Salus turned on her heel and began down towards the Astronomy tower, but Sirius' hand on her arm stopped her.

"Where are you going?" He asked once she stopped, "It's going to be curfew soon."

"Well you're the last person I thought I'd hear that from," Salus replied, "Suddenly scared of breaking school rules?"

Sirius rolled his eyes at the short girl, "Course not, but with the amount you were fidgeting at the thought of detention you don't exactly seem like the type to wander around the castle at night."

Salus scoffed, "Since when do you know what my 'type' is?"

Sirius sent her a cheeky wink and replied, "I'm Sirius Black, I can figure out what any girls' type is."

"That's bloody rich," Salus retorted, shaking her head, "And to answer your first question, I'm going to the Astronomy Tower. The view up there is nice for drawing."

"Aren't you tired?" He asked, letting out another yawn as if to emphasize his point.

"No," Salus lied, but knowing she wouldn't be able to sleep it didn't make that much of a difference.

Sirius shifted uncomfortably, "You might get caught."

"I've been sneaking around the castle since first year and haven't been caught yet," Salus replied, beginning to grow impatient, "I'll only stay up there for an hour and then I'll come back."

Salus turned to leave again, but was stopped when Sirius called, "Wait, I'll come with you."

Salus turned to face him, "Why?"

"Well what kind of gentlemen would I be if I left a lady to be caught by Filch all by herself?" he replied with a smile and offered Salus his arm, trying to act as 'gentlemanly' as he said.

Salus rolled her eyes, but took his arm despite thinking he was being ridiculous, "Fine, but if I get caught because of you then you're getting a new pair of antlers."

"I guess I'll have to take that chance."


	6. Chapter 6

The nighttime breeze that drifted into the astronomy tower was cool against Salus' skin, and sent a slight shiver down her arms, but she didn't cringe against the cold like most people. She loved the feeling of the chilled air. Christmas was going to fall upon the school soon, and the winter weather was holding tightly onto the castle. Salus and Sirius put a quick charm on their robes which helped keep them warm. Despite Salus' favour of cold weather, she'd rather not risk becoming ill. Just as Salus had pictured, the bright moon that lit up Hogwarts' grounds made a beautiful image in her mind. An eerie silence seemed to settle over the forest, but Salus knew that the forest was anything but silent and empty, which made it that much more intriguing to the reserved girl. Salus took a seat on the floor, pulling her sketchbook and different drawing materials from her rucksack. Sirius sat down next to the girl, looking over her shoulder as she set up her stuff.

"Do you do stuff like this often?" Sirius asked, resting his head in his hand which he perched on his knee.

"Stuff?" Salus asked airily, not paying much attention as her eyes scanned over the forest and the sky, mapping out where the shadows would be best placed to give the drawing the best look.

"You know, drawing, and," Sirius picked up one of the muggle pens and a pencil, "Whatever you do with this. . . what is this?"

"It's a muggle invention," Salus murmured as her hands began working with charcoal across one of the blank pages in her sketchbook, "Works the same as a quill, but you don't have to dip it in ink. Easier to carry around."

"You don't use ink? Then how would it write?" He asked again, carefully placing the pen and pencil back down beside her.

"The ink is stored inside the pen and comes out when you press it down on paper," Salus murmured, "The pencil is similar but it's graphite instead of ink."

"What's graphite?"

"A crystalline form of carbon."

"What's carbon?"

"Chemical element."

"What's an element?"

Salus glared at him over her shoulder which he responded to with a cheeky grin, "Sorry, love, wanted to see how far you'd go. I know what a pen is, haven't really seen many pencils though. My parents don't let anything muggle-made to stay around for long, if they can help it."

Salus rolled her eyes at him, a slight embarrassed flush burning at her cheeks, before putting her attention back on her drawing. The different shadows were beginning to turn into the trees, the lighter spots in between looking like mist that settled peacefully in the forest. Sirius placed his head on Salus' shoulder to watch as she drew. Salus realized quickly that Sirius enjoyed small acts of physical affection rather than verbal. Innocent things like resting his head in her lap, or leaning his head on her shoulder became normal through the weeks. At first it made Salus uncomfortable and a little angry, making her retaliate with pranks to irritate the boy, but she found it made the animagus more relaxed so she let him continue, and had already grown used to it. She still wasn't sure if it were his way of comforting himself or if it was a sign of affection, but she decided not to question him as she sometimes enjoyed the simple gestures.

Despite the tired droop that tugged at Sirius' eyes, he kept his gaze fixed on the sketchbook in Salus' lap and watched in fascinated contentment as she recreated the scene set before them.

"How do you know so much about the muggle world?" Sirius asked curiously, keeping his head settled on the shorter girl's shoulder, making his warm breath fan over her hair and part of her neck.

"There are these things called books," Salus replied sarcastically, "They live in the library and are guarded by an evil troll."

"I'd hardly call the librarian a troll," Sirius chuckled.

"Well you haven't seen her after a first year dropped a stack of her bloody precious books," Salus replied, but noticing Sirius' expectant gaze, went back to the original question, "My father's a muggle, so Severus and I grew up in the muggle and wizarding world."

Sirius noticed the bitter tone that seeped into Salus' response and raised a questioning brow at the girl, "I don't think I've ever really heard you talk about your parents."

'That's because they're fucking tossers,' Salus thought to herself but instead muttered, "That's not a subject that comes up in casual conversation."

"I suppose that's true," he replied, watching Salus' reaction closely.

Salus put the finishing touches on her drawing and looked down at it happily, satisfied with the outcome. A cheerful smile pulled at her lips despite her previous mood from thinking of her parents. A lazy smile tugged at Sirius' lips and he stood up, running a hand through his long, ebony hair as a yawn escaped him. He stretched out a hand and helped Salus up once she had everything packed away, and they made their way back to the Gryffindor Common room. As they walked through the empty corridor, Sirius decided to push on the topic they spoke of before.

"What's your family like?" Sirius asked suddenly, surprising Salus.

"Why do you care?" Salus replied, keeping her voice low, so if Filch were stalking the halls he wouldn't overhear them.

Sirius shrugged as if the subject wasn't demanding his full attention, but the shine in his silver eyes gave him away, "Curiosity. You know a bit about mine, I want to know about yours."

"Normal," Salus muttered, "Just like every other family."

Sirius nodded hesitantly in response, a small frown pulling at his features, knowing better than to believe the girl who could lie through her teeth as easily as taking a breath.

.

"You've been spending a weird amount of time with Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter," Lily pointed out to Salus as they sat down for Transfiguration, a few days after Salus and Sirius' adventure to the Astronomy Tower.

"You're the one always telling me to 'be more friendly'," Salus replied, wishing to avoid the subject if possible.

"I guess. . ." Lily hesitated, "but did you really have to choose them?"

"What's wrong with them?" Salus asked, smiling at her friends behaviour.

"There's nothing wrong with Remus or Peter, they seem alright," Lily said before grumbling under her breath, "But James and Sirius can be such arrogant bullies."

"I suppose they can be," Salus replied, "I don't especially like it when they pick on Sev, but they usually don't start anything when I'm around."

"Well that's a start, I guess," Lily replied, shaking her head, "Has Severus said anything about it? I can't see him being very happy about it."

"He wasn't," Salus muttered, and slumped down on the desk, resting her chin on her arms which were folded on top of the desk. Severus had been ignoring Salus since their last conversation, and when he did talk to her it was only with cold, one worded answers.

Before Lily could ask Salus to clarify, McGonagall entered the class and began the lesson, forcing them both to open their textbooks and begin to write out their notes.

Seeing their professor, who everyone knows is a registered animagus, got Salus thinking of her own upcoming transformation. The fear that something may go wrong was beginning to cloud her mind, making it difficult to concentrate on anything else- especially class work. Salus' Professors noticed the small change as well, even if she didn't make much of an impression in class before then, and she ended up getting lectured for not paying attention in class twice. Along with her fears of possible failure, she was also worried about what she may become. The animagus form is supposed to represent who a person is, but Salus didn't know what that could possibly mean. She found it easy to describe other people's characteristics, but the second it was about herself it became too difficult. She kept trying to consider a series of different animals in her head and pick through what she might have in common with them, but each time she ended up with nothing but a jumbled mess.

By the end of class she hadn't heard a single thing McGonagall had said, and ended up having to borrow notes from Lily, who looked very unimpressed that Salus hadn't paid attention. Salus and Lily parted ways; Lily wanting to go to the library, and Salus needing to get some books from her dorm room. It was just as Salus turned the corner into a corridor that her blue eyes caught a group of Ravenclaws huddled against the wall, laughing in between themselves. But it wasn't the groups laughs that had caught Salus' attention, it was the young Hufflepuff boy standing in the middle of them all, looking positively distraught. The boy's head was bowed down so Salus and the group of boys couldn't see his face, but the slight tremble in his shoulders gave away how upset he was. Without having to think it over twice, Salus pulled out her mahogany wand and flicked it towards the upset Hufflepuff boy.

" _Protego!"_

An invisible shield flew up around the boy, pushing back the Ravenclaws who had been crowded too closely around him. The group of Ravenclaws paled at first, thinking they had gotten caught by a teacher, but once they noticed Salus their grim expressions turned to sneers that were usually used only by Slytherins. Salus met their disdain with a fowl scowl of her own, showing them ice filled eyes that made them rethink any insults they were about to throw at the short girl.

"You'd think," Salus spoke up, raising her voice and speaking in a slow even tone, and keeping her head high to properly show off her Gryffindor colours, "That a group of Ravenclaws would at least be intelligent enough not to pick on a boy half their size in broad daylight. Or to at least pick an area of the castle that's a little less populated."

The Hufflepuff boy that was standing safely behind Salus shield charm finally looked up. His brown eyes were red and brimming with unshed tears, and the sight made Salus' angry frown even more vicious.

" _Avis_ ," the spell slipped from Salus' lips, followed by a flock of birds from the end of her wand and a loud bang.

" _Oppugno,"_ Instantly, the flock of small birds pointed towards the group of Ravenclaws and swooped down on them like bullets. The birds began pecking and scratching at the boys, forcing them to run down the corridor to helplessly try to evade the small creatures.

Salus huffed angrily, watching the group as they round the corner. She turned back to the young Hufflepuff, "Are you alright?"

The boy nodded, his hands moving up to wipe away any tears that may have fallen. While the boy cleaned himself up, Salus strode towards him and began to pick up the various books and quills that littered the floor around his feet. They looked as if they had been dumped from his bag, a bottle of ink was broken and splattered on the floor. A quick repairing charm put the bottle back in order and Salus handed everything back to the boy. The boy whispered a quiet 'thanks', but kept his head lowered as if feeling shame for his position.

Salus hesitated and looked the boy over. Despite him being a few years younger than her, he was easily taller than her by a few inches, but still had a scrawny juvenile build that would quickly disappear with time. He had shaggy, chestnut hair that fell in front of his face, and his light brown eyes were red and still swimming with tears. A small, silver earring in the boy's right ear glinted against the light. Salus tried her best to smile cheerfully, only managing the small quirk of her lips because of her previous anger at the Ravenclaws, and asked, "What's your name?"

"Jeremy," the boy replied, finally meeting Salus' gaze, "Jeremy Stringer."

"Salus S- Prince," Salus replied, "Why were those bird-brains picking on you, Jeremy?"

Jeremy just shrugged, not willing to talk about private matters to a stranger. Salus easily picked up on that, and instead of asking again about the bullies, decided to ask, "Jeremy, do you like hot chocolate?"

Jeremy looked at her in confusion, his eyebrows scrunched together, "I-I guess, why-"

"Well, the house elves in the kitchens make some of the best hot chocolate," Salus explained, "And I need someone to accompany me. See, I was just very rude and am bound to get snitched on by at least one of those boys, so I need someone as an alibi that I've been enjoying some nice hot chocolate with the house elves. Come along with me?"

The surprise on Jeremy's features doubled, looking as if he couldn't believe his ears, but also came with gratitude, "Sure, but how do you know how to get into the kitchens?"

"A friend showed me," Salus replied, shrugging her shoulders, as they began making their way towards the kitchens.

Salus' promise to meet Lily at the library was nudging at the back of her mind, but she tried to ignore it. Lily would understand if Salus told her a younger student was getting bullied. Plus they were only getting a quick cup of hot chocolate, so hopefully she wouldn't be delayed for too long. Accompanying the younger boy seemed more important, especially since he seemed very upset from before.

They quickly reached the kitchens, luckily without running into the Ravenclaws from before or into any professors. Once they were inside, some of the many house elves that worked in the kitchens immediately greeted the two students, asking what they would like to eat. Salus asked for two hot chocolates and then sat down with Jeremy. All of the house elves were very enthusiastic, and asked the two teens repeatedly if they would like anything else.

"You know. . ." Salus said to Jeremy once they both had their hot chocolates, "If you're being bullied, you should talk to a professor. They could probably-"

"I'm not a snitch," Jeremy muttered, looking down at his drink.

Salus smirked, "Normally I'd say that's a good attribute, but those Ravenclaws looked like seventh years. What year are you in?"

"Fourth," he muttered his reply.

"They've got three years on you, Jeremy. Not to mention they outnumber you," Salus scoffed under her breath, "Bloody cowards couldn't pick a fair fight."

Jeremy hesitated, opening his mouth to speak, but changing his mind and going back to drinking his hot chocolate. Salus watched his reactions, very familiarized with how different people deal with their conflicts.

"What did they say to you?" Salus asked, "You looked . . . upset, before."

The younger boy looked up at Salus before looking away and then back again, looking a lot like a scolded puppy in Salus' head. He seemed to slump down in on himself, holding the now empty glass in his hands as if it were a lifeline.

Finally he seemed to break under Salus unwavering gaze and murmured silently underneath his breath, "T-they called me a . . . a poof."

Salus' rage was instantly rekindled and she muttered darkly to herself, "I should have done a lot worse then set a few birds on them."

Jeremy's eyebrows flew up, hidden beneath his medium length hair. He shuffled a bit in his seat, toying with the cup in his lap to keep himself preoccupied, "So you aren't, I mean, you d-don't care? That I'm . . ."

Salus looked at him incredulously, "Why would I?"

Jeremy shrugged his shoulders, but a dimpled smile pulled at his lips. He and Salus set their mugs on the table, a house elf immediately taking them away to be thoroughly cleaned, and Salus stood to her feet.

"I should be leaving, I'm meeting a friend to study in the library," Salus told Jeremy as they exit from the kitchen. Jeremy nod in response, his smile only slipping for a moment, but it was just enough to catch Salus' attention, "I'll see you around, alright?"

The young Hufflepuff nodded in response, his smile returning, "Alright."


	7. Chapter 7

Breakfast on the morning of the day before students returned home for Christmas was filled with excitement. Conversations of celebration, travel, and seeing family sounded all around the Great Hall that morning. Festive decorations filled the Great Hall, which seemed to make all the students exceedingly anticipated for their departures. All students, except for a small group of Gryffindors. Salus, Lily, Sirius, and Remus all had different disputes with the holiday. Salus never returned home for Christmas break unless she went to her grandmother's house, and had a dislike for the holiday that had only brought her bad memories. Lily was much happier then Salus, and enjoyed the Christmas excitement that gripped onto the school, but was worried about facing her sister, Petunia, and her new boyfriend, Vernon. Sirius and his younger brother Regulus, who usually ignored Sirius throughout the school year, had both received letters summoning them home- which put Sirius in a rather foul mood. Lastly, Remus, had received an owl from his father that his mother was feeling sickly and that it would be best for him to stay at the school over the holidays. So far the Christmas break, for some students, was filled with dread and dislike. Of course, very few knew of each one's situation. Only Lily knew why Salus was staying, and why the small girl seemed to refuse to acknowledge the usually cheerful holiday. Of course, Lily had offered Salus to stay at her home for the break, but the last time Salus had met Lily's sister it hasn't ended well, so Salus graciously refused. Only Salus knew of Lily's vile sister and equally vile fiancé, and knew not to mention it in front of the other Gryffindor's. Unfortunately everyone had been present for the howler that Walburga Black had sent her son- demanding that he return home and not stray to the Potter's residence, as he usually did over the breaks. Salus wasn't sure which Sirius was more upset about; the fact that he had to go home, or that his mother had embarrassed him in front of most the school. But either way, when the howler arrived for him, Salus gripped onto Sirius' hand under the Gryffindor table until it had ended and then used a quick, speechless spell to destroy the remains of the horrid letter. Sirius didn't say anything to her about it, but did take her hand again once the letter had been destroyed, gripping it firmly as if she would disappear if he didn't, and didn't let go until they had to leave. But his facial expression remained stoic and closed off, not allowing anyone to know what he could possibly be thinking.

When Remus had received his letter, he told the Marauders and Salus why he would be staying at the school. James immediately offered to let Remus join his family for the holidays, but Remus declined- not wanting to cause the family any trouble. Plus he thought that someone should keep Salus company over the holidays, since Severus had decided to go to one of his fellow Slytherin's house for Christmas. He wouldn't tell Salus which one, and lately she wasn't sure if she wanted to know. Of course, she didn't bring up these thoughts with anybody else. Few people in Gryffindor understood the loyalty and concern she had for her brother.

It was during the early morning of that breakfast that Salus' spirits were lifted. Owls swooped around the great hall delivering mail to the students, some causing quite the ruckus when they accidentally landed on food or students' plates. Salus never received letters from home, she never bothered watching for any owls headed towards her, so when a giant grey owl swooped past her head and landed on the table- she screamed.

"Ow, what the fuck, Prince!? It's just a bloody owl!" James yelled, his hands covering his ears.

"Sorry, it surprised me." Salus muttered in return, flushing in embarrassment.

"No kidding," Remus grumbled under his breath, setting his head on the table to try and stop the ringing in his ears.

"For such a small girl you've got some serious lungs on you," Sirius joined in, rubbing at his head painfully, and earned a snort of agreement from Peter.

Salus rolled her eyes at the boys before taking the letter clasped in the owl's mouth. She fed the familiar owl some of the food from her plate before it swooped away and out of the great hall. Flipping the letter over in her hands, she found a cursive 'Salus' written on the back in exceedingly tidy, familiar handwriting. Salus grinned happily, breaking the wax seal of the Prince family crest, and hurriedly pulled out the letter.

"Your grandmother?" Lily asked, looking at the letter over Salus' shoulder.

Salus nodded enthusiastically, her oddly happy mood easily catching the marauders attention, especially that of a certain werewolf and dog. Salus never spoke of family, save for her brother, and she rarely looked that joyous. James lifted a black eyebrow at her inquisitively, but Salus was too distracted to pay him any mind. He directed his look of curiosity to Lily instead, who glared back at him, but reluctantly answered the unspoken question, "Salus' Grandmother on her mother's side of the family. She's-"

"Fantastic." Salus answered, her eyes not leaving the page.

"Bloody terrifying, actually," Lily answered under her breath, but was still caught by the group of students. Everybody's eyes widened slightly, mostly at Lily's use of language, and looked quite excited to hear about Salus' supposedly 'terrifying' grandmother.

Salus head snapped up, "What? No she's not. My gran is a sweet old lady."

Lily took the letter from Salus hands, her eyes scanning the page briefly before reading out loud, ". . . 'and please tell that useless kin of yours to send your dear grandmother a letter, or else I'll curse his potions set so far up his pale white a-' well you get the idea."

"She's quirky." Salus defended, "Besides, she wouldn't actually do it."

"Only because she wouldn't be able to catch Severus from her wheelchair." Lily grumbled under her breath.

Sirius smirked, "I kinda want to meet this lady."

"No, you really don't." Lily scoffed.

Salus rolled her eyes and snatched back the letter from Lily's hands. Lily held up her hands defensively, but the smile playing on her lips showed that she was glad her dear friend had someone in her family besides Severus who she could rely on. Salus held the letter openly in front of her, not minding the boys' prying eyes for once since she usually felt no shame when it came other grandmother, and read over the letter.

'My dearest Salus,

It pains me to know that you'll be by yourself for yet another Christmas. I'm sorry I couldn't offer you the comfort of my own home, but recently my health has declined, but no worries- I'll kick whatever illness is plaguing me in the arse as I have with every other! My sweet little Snuffles has missed you nearly as much as I have, and I hope that we'll be able to meet soon, if not for my sake then for the kneazle's. I hope that your Christmas isn't a complete disappointment, but I understand your disdain for the holiday. If your deadbeat of a father-'

Salus flinched, not expecting her gran to mention Tobias Snape, and tried to subtly hide the rest of the letter underneath the table where no one else could read it. Unfortunately this moment caught nearly everyone's attention, especially Sirius. When James went to ask why Salus had hid the letter, Sirius sent him a sharp shake of the head, knowing full well how difficult family could be. Salus' face burned with frustration and embarrassment but she continued reading the letter underneath the table where she had some privacy.

'-wasn't such a coward and would face me like a man, then I'd hex his drunken ass into St. Mungo's.

Well my dear, I'll have to end my letter here for now. I expect a quick reply, and please tell that useless kin of yours to send your dear grandmother a letter, or else I'll shove his potions set so far up his pale white arse he'll have to find a bed in St. Mungo's next to your waste of a father.

With Love,

Elara Prince.'

Folding back up the letter and sticking it gently back inside the envelope it arrived in, Salus stuck the letter inside her rucksack to put away later. She didn't speak for the rest of the meal, instead focusing on the plate in front of her and picking at her eggs. Salus' attitude towards her grandmother, along with the few tidbits of her letter that Sirius had been able to read from the corner of his eye only added hints to the puzzle that was Salus in his mind. She would never answer personal questions completely truthfully, knowing she was a good liar, but the few moments she had let anything slip was just enough for the marauders to slowly piece together what kind of person she was, and what her home life might be like. It disturbed Sirius that he was beginning to wonder if his and Salus' families were similar in certain aspects.

"So how are you planning on spending Christmas?" Sirius asked Salus as they walked to their last transfiguration lesson before Christmas break, already knowing the answer partially because of the letter. Remus and Peter walked beside them and James followed Lily like a lost puppy trying to catch her attention a short ways ahead of them.

"I'm staying at the school during the break." Salus answered, keeping a straight uncaring face that was impossible to read. She had told Remus already only because he was staying as well, and Lily was aware of Salus' yearly tradition of avoiding everyone else's yearly traditions.

"Not going home?" Sirius asked, trying his best to pry while remaining casual, "Your family won't miss you?"

"My mum and dad are going on a trip to visit some family." Salus lied, the skip in her heartbeat only caught by the young werewolf by her side, "Since Severus is going to a friends for Christmas I thought I might as well stay here."

"Well at least someone will be here to keep poor Moony company," Sirius smirked, earning a small glare and flushed cheeks from said werewolf, "Any plans to celebrate? I know some great places to acquire firewhiskey."

Salus' nose wrinkled at the thought, "I don't drink." Sirius gasped as if wounded, but Salus ignored him and continued, "I also don't celebrate Christmas."

This had everybody in the small group spinning to stare at the girl in shock, their mouths agape. Even James stopped chasing after Lily to turn and give Salus an incredulous gasp. Salus rolled her eyes, and kept walking forward, "It's not that big of a deal."

"Of course it's a big deal!" James exploded, "Christmas is one of the funnest holidays of the year!"

"I agree with Prongs here," Sirius said, "Even I've only a couple of good Christmas' but they were still the best holidays ever. Besides my birthday, that's obviously the most important day of the year."

"I just don't see what the big deal is," Salus shrugged, "It's just an excuse to miss school, stick a dead tree in your living room, and drink until you pass out."

"What kind of awful Christmas' have you been having?" Remus asked, his eyebrows pulled together.

Lily decided to cut in to try and defend Salus, "Guys just drop it. Salus can be a bit of a Scrooge this time of year so I wouldn't push her."

Salus sent a small, scornful glare at Lily, but the redhead could tell that her friend was happy for intervening.

"Scrooge?" James asked, looking at Salus as if a 'Scrooge' were a scary beast.

"It's a muggle Christmas story about an old man who hated the holiday and was visited by three ghosts who change his mind by scaring the shite out of him." Salus elaborated, her tone sounding unimpressed.

"Ah, and what are these ghosts you speak of?" Sirius asked, rubbing his chin as if very perplexed on the subject.

"Fuck you," Salus muttered under her breath, glaring forward. It's not her fault she doesn't know what purebloods are raised with- she grew up with the muggle and wizard worlds.

Remus chuckled, "Wow she is a Scrooge."

"Better watch out for Nearly Headless Nick, Sally," James cooed, earning a snicker from Sirius.

"Call me Sally and you won't make it to see your bloody holiday, Potter." Salus growled, storming forward to loop her arm with Lily's and march off towards Transfiguration.

"Merlin, she's so easy to mess with some days," Sirius snickered to James.

James smirked at his friend, not bothering to smother a knowing, smug look. Of course, Sirius noticed and raised an eyebrow at the other animagus, "What?"

"Nothing," James shrugs, the knowing smirk on his face turning into a grin, "Just wondering how long you've fancied Salus."

Sirius let out a sputtered, "W-what!? I don't fancy Salus!"

James nodded along, his eyebrows raised high disbelievingly, "Whatever you say, Padfoot."

"I don't!" Sirius yelled, "She's a friend, that's all! How in the bloody hell did you come to that conclusion!?"

"You're not trying to get in her knickers," James snickered, "You treat her different."

"Ah yes, the ultimate seduction method," Sirius scoffed sarcastically, "Showing no interest. You got me there, Prongs."

"You know what I mean," James rolled his eyes.

"Enlighten me," Sirius scoffed again.

"I don't know, you just treat her better then other girls," James shrugged.

"Like I said; she's a friend," Sirius said with a tone of finality, "If any of us here were to fancy Salus, it'd be Moony."

A blush crept across Remus' face and he stuttered a surprised, "W-what?"

"They spend more time together," Sirius explained to James, ignoring Remus' response, "Always studying and talking at meals. Bug him about Salus, not me."

"Whatever you say," James replied, but the smirk didn't leave his face.

The small group didn't talk again until they reached transfiguration, but Sirius' heart was beating painfully hard against his rib cage the whole way there, and a knowing scowl was fixed on a certain werewolf's face.

.

Salus was heading to have lunch before her last, and most favourite, class of the day; Care of Magical Creatures. She was naturally good at taming the various beasts and creatures that Professor Kettleburn showed in class. The reckless and rather limbless professor favoured Salus over any other of his students, and had offered more than once to write her letters of recommendation to various dragon sanctuaries. Salus was immensely interested in the dangerous and untamable creatures, and often studied them in her spare time, but the idea of actually working in a dragon sanctuary seemed impossible, so she aimed for smaller goals. Becoming a professional breeder, or opening her own shop to help train and sell domesticated magical creatures like kneazles seemed much more realistic in her mind. Aspiring for that as her future career, she had worked in one of the pet stores in Diagon Alley, and in a muggle pet store near her house over the summers. Although, the one in Diagon Alley was much more entertaining, and it didn't pay her with muggle money. When she was paid with muggle money she would either have to get it traded in at Gringotts, or spend it on muggle clothing. Another downside was that sometimes her father, Tobias, would nick muggle money from her wallet, so it was better to keep wizard currency that he couldn't spend on liquor. Sometimes it paid off to have a muggle father instead of a wizard one.

The Great Hall was surprisingly full, all of the students preferring to converse with their friends then spend free time studying this close to Christmas break. Standing just outside of the Great Hall's doors was a very nervous, and familiar looking Hufflepuff.

"Jeremy?" Salus asked once she had gotten closer, "Stringer?"

The young Hufflepuff jumped at her voice, and spun to meet her with wide, surprised eyes, "O-oh, hello again, Prince."

"Not going in for lunch?" Salus asked the rather timid looking boy.

"I am," He nodded, but still looked rather unsure, "It's just- well, it's very, um- it's very-"

"Want to sit with me?" Salus asked before the boy would end up bursting a brain vessel.

"Really?" Jeremy asked, looking even more surprised than before, "I mean, you don't- don't mind?"

"Why would I?" Salus replied, but didn't wait for his response and waved the Hufflepuff to follow.

Leading Jeremy, who seemed to try and hide behind the girl (which didn't exactly work very well because of their height difference), towards the Gryffindor table earned her a few confused glances, but besides that no one paid any mind. Salus took a seat at her usual spot, none of her fellow Gryffindors paying any mind. Jeremy, however, shifted uncomfortably and looked as if he were about to flee from the Great Hall.

"Sit," Salus said, motioning to the spot across from her, "No one is paying any attention, your fine here."

Jeremy nodded curtly before hesitantly sitting down at the Gryffindor table. Only a couple of Gryffindors looked over curiously, the bright Hufflepuff yellow easily standing out against the Gryffindor crimson, but once they noticed the Hufflepuff was sitting with Salus they decided to ignore it. That fact didn't go unnoticed by Jeremy.

He leaned forwards slightly, not noticing that Salus had taken his plate and started to load it with food, and whispered, "W-why is nobody- I mean, no one seems to care that I'm-"

"I know," Salus replied, "Most of the Gryffindors tend to ignore me, so I think they're ignoring you by association."

Jeremy's brown eyes widened and he seemed to relax a bit in his seat, "Oh."

The young Hufflepuff only noticed the mountain of food Salus had finished putting on his plate once she set it down in front of him, and his surprised and perplexed expression only deepened. Noticing this, Salus explained, "You looked uncomfortable because of the amount of students, and weren't entering because of it. Since breakfast and dinner are even more crowded than this, I thought it safe to assume you don't eat much unless it's lunch time."

Shrugging her shoulders, and making her own plate of food, Salus continued, "If you sit with me then most people will ignore you, so you don't have to worry about crowds."

Jeremy's mouth hung slightly agape and his eyes seemed to shine with hints of gratitude. A small, embarrassed blush crept onto his cheeks and he murmured a quiet, "Thank you," under his breath.

Their meal would have been perfectly content, but alas the rowdiest group of Gryffindors decided to join Salus for the meal. Salus wasn't aware of their presence in the Great Hall, her attention mostly fixed on Jeremy, until an arm draped over her shoulders and she felt two bodies sit themselves on either side of her. Startled, she jumped slightly at the contact, but once she looked up and met the familiar silver eyes of Sirius she relaxed under his arm. She didn't even have to look over to know that James had sat on her other side- knowing full well that James and Sirius rarely left each other's sides.

Normally Sirius would tease and bug Salus, especially after jumping like that- which she rarely did, but the group of marauders were too distracted by the Hufflepuff sitting across from their short friend. Remus and Peter sat on either side of Jeremy, both giving him confused glances, and looked to Salus for the answer.

"Who's the badger?" Sirius asked, keeping his arm secured over Salus' shoulders in a near protective manor.

"Jeremy Stringer," Salus introduced, "Jeremy, this is Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew."

"I-I thought you said most of the Gryffindors ignored you," Jeremy stuttered, feeling intimidated from the four sixth years that seemed to be staring him down.

"They do," James answered.

Sirius nodded grimly, "Salus cursed us into being her slaves for all eternity. Run while you can, Stringer."

Jeremy's eyes widened, not knowing how to respond to such a statement. Salus rolled her eyes and whacked Sirius on the arm, "don't put weird thoughts in the boy's head."

"Yes, Mistress," Sirius smirked, earning an icy glare from Salus.

"So Jeremy," Remus said, putting a stop to Sirius' jokes that probably shouldn't be heard by a fourth year, "What brings you to our table?"

"Prince, er, Salus- she invited me," Jeremy answered, slumping down in his seat as if he'd been caught stealing instead of sitting at a different table.

Remus raised an eyebrow at Jeremy's answer. Salus wasn't exactly known for her outgoing nature, so inviting someone new to have lunch with her struck the all the boys as rather odd. He didn't voice his question, but instead gave Salus an incredulous look.

Instead of telling the boys that Jeremy had been bullied and didn't seem to have many friends, as that was his own business, Salus explained, "Lily told me to make friends that weren't, in her words, 'arrogant toerags that do nothing but bully other students all day'."

Sirius nodded his head understandingly before his face turned ironically serious, "Then I only have one question for you, Stringer."

That one sentence alone managed to make Jeremy pale dramatically and he stuttered out a silent, "W-what?"

"Who's your favourite quidditch team?"

"Puddlemere United?"

Sirius grasped at his heart dramatically, "Thank Merlin. Alright he can stay."

The group all laughed at Sirius' dramatic display, and Salus was happy to see Jeremy relax and laugh along with the group.

' _Looks like I just adopted a badger,_ ' Salus thought humorously to herself.

.

A/N: to be completely honest, I am really not a fan of this chapter, but I rarely like my own writing so what's new? Let me know what you think by leaving a review!


	8. Chapter 8

A layer of snow and ice covered the grounds of Hogwarts, and a brittle wind cut through Salus' robes as she trudged down to her Care of Magical Creatures class run by professor Kettleburn. Some of the students that were already there and waiting by the teacher were huddled together around a jar of bluebell flames to try and stay warm. Care of Magical Creatures, as much as Salus loved the class, wasn't the most popular, so there was only a small group of students who were interested in taking the N.E.W.T. for the class.

"Miss Snape!" Professor Kettleburn's rough voice greeted her, "I heard from Professor McGonagall that yeh'll be stayin' at Hogwarts for Christmas."

"That's correct, sir," Salus nodded.

"Good! I have a small favour I need to ask of yeh. Follow me," He beaconed the girl over and began hopping towards one of the many small stone corrals that held the different, and usually domesticated, magical creatures for the class. Professor Kettleburn was a rather limbless man, and was covered in injuries because of his love for large, dangerous creatures. Salus wasn't sure why he didn't get a synthetic leg to replace the one that had been chewed off by a grumpy Romanian Longhorn, but the professor seemed content enough to just hop around on his remaining leg. He was also missing most of his left arm, which apparently had been taken by a sphinx after he had answered one of their riddles incorrectly.

The wild creatures for the class, or the ones that needed more room, roamed throughout the forbidden forest, but some that were considered domesticated (even though some probably shouldn't be) were kept in areas like the one Professor Kettleburn led Salus to. Inside of the large fenced off area was four young hippogriffs that seemed to be playing amongst themselves. Salus was already familiar with the four creatures; a golden brown male hippogriff named Fleetwing, a smaller dark grey female named Stormswift, a lighter grey male named Buckbeak, and lastly an inky black female hippogriff named Hothoof. Hothoof and Buckbeak were Salus' favourites, but she loved the entire herd of proud hippogriffs.

"I've got some business durin' the break an' i won't be here to feed these youngins," Professor Kettleburn explained once they stopped by the old fence, "I don't know how they'll fare to the cold weather yet, and they still aren't the best hunters. I'd ask Hagrid but Dumbledore's got him off on some errand."

"You want me to take care of them?" Salus asked, surprised.

"Aye, it'd only be for a few days," Kettleburn replied, "An you'd only have to come down and feed 'em in the mornin' before breakfast an' in the evening before curfew. Think you can handle it?"

Salus nodded, feeling excited now, "When do I start?"

"Thanks, lass. I'll be leavin' tomorrow, so start tomorrow evening." Kettleburn gave a thankful nod, and motioned for Salus to follow him back toward the class, "I'll show you where their food's all stored."

Professor Kettleburn lead the girl away and as much as she tried to pay attention, the excited thought of being responsible for some of her favorite creatures swam at the forefront of her mind. Even if it was only for a few days, she would still get extra time with the young hippogriffs. Salus couldn't wait to tell Lily.

.

"You're doing WHAT!?" Lily's voice screeched out across the Great Hall. The entire Hall seemed to still at the sound of the Gryffindor's enraged voice, which was usually reserved for James when he did something stupid like propose marriage.

"That's not the reaction I was prepared for," Salus muttered underneath her breath.

"Well how in the bloody hell did you think I'd react!?" Lily hissed at the girl, "Hippogriffs are dangerous, Salus!"

"But-"

"I thought you learned a proper lesson when you tried feeding a firecrab and nearly got your arm all burned up!" Lily continued to scold loudly

"It only singed my robes, Lil," Salus said, using her childhood nickname for her friend to try and calm her down. It didn't.

"DON'T 'LIL' ME, SALUS! HIPPOGRIFFS ARE EVEN MORE DANGEROUS THAN FIRECRABS AND WITH YOUR LUCK YOU'LL END UP GETTING TRAMPLED TO DEATH!"

"They're only adolescent hippogriffs, Lil," Salus continued in a much calmer voice than her redheaded friend, which almost seemed to work, "If anything, they would scratch me with their front talons or try to peck out my throat."

"That doesn't help your argument," Lily growled in reply.

"From your tone I thought James would be here," Sirius' voice rang out as he entered the Great Hall and made his way to the Gryffindor table, "What's got your knickers in a knot, Evans?"

"Not the time, Sirius," Salus muttered to him in warning, but she went ignored by the two.

"Salus thought that playing with wild hippogriffs would be a great way to spend Christmas instead of celebrating like a normal person!" Lily began her rant over again, "With her luck she'll get lifted off or-or have her eyes pecked out!"

"Seriously!? Salus gets to play with hippogriffs over the break while the rest of us have to-" Sirius began, but stopped at the piercing glare Lily sent him. Sirius blanched, and took a seat next to Salus, before correcting himself, "I mean- bad Salus, with big nasty hippogriffs. Shame on you."

"Yes, I feel right and properly scolded," Salus rolled her eyes at Sirius before turning back to her fuming, redheaded friend, "It's not that big of a deal, Lily. They're only a bit bigger than a dog would be. They've barely even got their hunting talons grown yet. Besides, I've been around them plenty before so it's not like this is anything new."

"Yes, but before there was always a Professor there in case something went wrong!" Lily objected, "What if one of them attacks and there's no one there to help you!?"

"Lily," Remus, who had stayed out of the conversation before then for his own safety, tried to reason with the witch, "If it makes you feel better I can go with Salus to make sure nothing happens."

Lily finally seemed to scowl in defeat, and took a stab at her food before muttering, "I suppose that'd be okay."

"So Sirius, where's your boyfriend at?" Salus asked to try and deter Lily from the topic of hippogriffs and onto something even more aggravating.

"Detention," Sirius replied before explaining, "James thought it'd be funny to transfigure one of the class mice into a cat and leave it on Professor McGonagall's desk."

"That is kind of funny," Salus smirked.

"Not when it's one of those gross hairless cats," Remus chuckled.

"He told me to send his love before he was dragged off, though, Evans," Sirius smirked before sending her a cheeky air kiss.

Lily, in return, glared darkly at the animagus, "You can return that, thanks."

"Will do," Sirius nodded.

"Where's your Hufflepuff, Salus?" Peter, who like Remus had decided to stay silent until then for his own safety, asked friendlily.

"Jeremy? I'm not sure," Salus replied, "He should be along soon- oh, here he is."

As if his name had summoned him, at that moment Jeremy nervously walked into the Great Hall. He seemed to glance around, his gaze shifting from the Hufflepuff table to the Gryffindor table, unsure of where to sit. Noticing the young wizard's discomfort, Salus waved him over to the Gryffindor table. Jeremy made his way over, his head lowered a bit, making him appear much shorter than he was. Once he reached the table, he sat on Salus' left and kept close to her as if she were a shield to everyone else in the Great Hall.

"So, Jeremy," Lily started politely once the younger boy had settled down, "Any plans for the holidays?"

"N-no, no plans," Jeremy quickly answered, his brown eyes glued to his plate, "Just staying at the castle."

"Well at least you'll have Salus and Remus to keep you company," Lily said encouragingly, a slight pitying look on her face- which upset Salus for reasons unknown to her.

"Well, us and some hippogriffs," Salus said cheerfully, trying to smother her mild irritation.

"H-hippogriffs?" Jeremy asked confused, "They're allowed in the castle?"

"No, they're out near Hagrid's Hut, but Professor Kettleburn asked me to take care of them. You could come along if you want," Salus offered.

"Are they safe?" The young Hufflepuff asked cautiously.

"No."

"Yes," Lily and Salus answered at the same time.

". . . Probably," Remus concluded.

.

The next morning was hectic as students were wrangled out of the school by the teachers with all of their belongs in tow. Salus shared a quick goodbye with Lily, James, Sirius, and Peter; James and Sirius feeling the need to make a big display of their departure by setting off fireworks in the Great Hall. Even better than the firework show, was when James started reciting bad Shakespeare at Lily, yelling dramatically how he'd miss his most 'precious Lily flower' and he wouldn't sleep until he saw her again. Lily hit him with a stinging hex in return. Soon the castle was nearly empty; only a handful of students from each house staying for the holidays. If it weren't for the Christmas decorations that filled the school, it would feel as if it had been completely abandoned of life.

Remus and Salus sat on the floor of the Gryffindor Common Room in front of the roaring fireplace, a game of wizard's chest spread out between the two. The room was comfortably silent, the only sound to break their silence being the stone chess pieces moving across the board, and the occasional crack of sparks from the fireplace. The heat from the fire was a soothing warmth in comparison to the chilled halls of Hogwarts, and was the only source of light in the otherwise dark common room. Both of the the two Gryffindor's faces were pinched in concentration, Salus feeling irritated with the game that she never had the best grasp of. Eventually her eyebrows shot up and she let out a happy, 'Aha!' and commanded one of her rooks to destroy one of her opponent's Knights. Remus only chuckled in response before moving one of his bishops and claiming, "Checkmate,".

Salus groaned in frustration and leaned against the side of the couch that they were seated in front of, and grumbled underneath her breath, "I'll never be good at this bloody game. Severus likes it too, and i just don't see the appeal."

Remus smiled, watching as the chess pieces all righted themselves out, and said encouragingly, "You're getting better each time. It just takes more practice."

Salus snorted underneath her breath, "You're saying that so you can kick my arse again."

"Well I won't deny that it's definitely ego boosting to win five games in a row," the werewolf replied cheekily, "But you are getting better. Your dreams of being a chess master haven't been squandered quite yet."

Salus laughed lightly, before sighing dramatically and placing her hand over her heart, "Whatever shall I do, my future dreams of being able to move funny looking game pieces strategically across a board to assassinate other game pieces seems so far off."

Remus rolled his eyes at Salus' rare display of humorous theatrics, and asked, "Alright then, what is it you dream to do since chess is apparently so ridiculous?"

"There are many things I dream to do, but whether or not those things are realistic is a completely other story," Salus replied, "For now I'm just going to concentrate on my animagus training and graduating next year. If I manage not to get stuck looking like a scary half animal from the first animagus shift, then that is an accomplishment in itself."

"You've had Outstandings in transfiguration since first year, I'm sure you'll be just fine," Remus said, more of a reassurance to himself then to the girl in front of him, "Sirius, James, and Peter managed to do it when they were younger than you."

"I never thought of it that way," Salus admitted under her breath, "Well, this should be rather easy than."

Remus quietly chuckled before they lapsed back into a comfortable silence. Neither of them bothered to move from the carpeted floor that was warned from the roaring fire, and chose to instead lean lazily against the couch. Salus felt more at peace there then she could remember feeling in a while, and let that comfort consume her completely. She let her mind wander to the events of earlier that evening. Remus, Jeremy, and herself had gone to feed the young hippogriffs that had been left under her care. The adolescent hippogriffs are much less prideful then the adults, and didn't yet care for any bowing or shows of respect, so the three teens had enjoyed playing with the young creatures whilst feeding them scraps of meat. Jeremy hadn't been nearly as enthusiastic as Salus, and squirmed at the sight of the dead ferrets they were feeding the hippogriffs, but had seemed to enjoy himself all the same.

Remus, who had been thinking of the same subject as Salus, smiled at the new fond memory. Even if, in his perspective, they were being a tad reckless around the creatures, he wouldn't take any of it back. He had never seen Salus as openly joyful as she was around the hippogriffs that she was so attached to. The sudden thought of this, along with the conversation the two of them had only moments ago, led him to a sudden realization.

"One of your dreams," Remus said, breaking their silence, "Is it to work with Magical Creatures?"

Salus head shot up with a start, a slight embarrassed look spread out on her features, before she shook her head in defiance, "No."

Remus raised a single, unimpressed, eyebrow at the girl and replied, "Even if I weren't a wolf I'd know you were lying with a reaction like that."

"In my defence," Salus grumbled, "You caught me off guard."

"What's so bad about wanting to work with magical creatures?" Remus asked curiously.

Salus shrugged and looked down at the hem of her skirt, which she was playing with distractedly, and replied, "I don't know. A lot of people just react badly."

"Why?"

"Well I'm a bit too short for the job description," Salus sighed, "Most people would probably turn me away for that reason before they'd even check my credentials."

"Well I suppose that's something we have in common then." Remus replied silently, placing his warm hand over her's comfortingly, "No one in the wizarding world will ever willingly hire a werewolf."

Salus couldn't help the small smile that tugged at her lips, and joked with the same silent voice as Remus, "Well then we can just be poor together and share a lovely cardboard box on the streets."

Remus chuckled in response, but kept his hand placed overtop of the hand of the odd girl he had quickly become attached to, and he didn't let go of it for the rest of the evening.


	9. Chapter 9

There are few people that can perfectly describe what scalding water feels like. To feel their flesh burning and melting underneath the everyday liquid, so hot that it would feel like magma against their skin. Now to be burned so horrifically that the wound still showed as clear as day, even eight years after it was inflicted, would be appalling. Many people might find their own way of blocking out the traumatic memory; to try and forget whatever unfortunate incident had occurred. Perhaps see a therapist, or get surgery to try and change their skin back to its original state. Salus was incapable of such things. Having been burned so horrifically herself, she knew _exactly_ what it felt like to have her own skin be melted away like wax and bubble from the intense heat. She knew how it felt to scream in pain until her voice went raw, begging for release from the hellish heat set upon her flesh. How even after someone had tried to relieve her of such pain by pouring cool water over the wound, the burning sensation still remained, and remained even long after she was properly treated.

Sometimes, even after eight years, she could still feel the burning sensation beneath the scarred skin. The pain taunting the girl as if it were all a sick joke. The one thing that did make Salus lucky, was that the area that had been burned was much smaller than it could have been. The terrible scalding water had mangled her ear, making it look as if it had melted into the side of her neck, which was dreadfully discolored and rugged. The old burn ran down to her shoulders, but thankfully didn't spread any further than that. But it was still enough. It was enough to add to the terrible images that plagued her sleep. The worst of her nightmares were of the small spaces she would be locked in, and of the feeling of her flesh melting away. It was the reason why her personality was guarded and closed off from the public, and one of the reasons why she didn't celebrate holidays such as Christmas. The only upside that she could possibly take from the grim experiences that caused such nightmares, was that no one else knew of them besides Severus and Lily. And that was exactly how she wanted things to stay.

Salus awoke on Christmas Day with the firm decision to treat the day like every other. She wouldn't celebrate. No gifts or Christmas carols like she had witnessed others partake in. On more than one occasion Lily had tried various schemes to make Salus appreciate the holiday, but she was unsuccessful each time. Salus had too poor of memories associated with the day to find any possible enjoyment anymore. So when she walked down to the common room, purple bags pulling at her eyes from a night of no sleep, she was surprised to find Remus waiting for her with a decorated package in hand. Salus froze on the last step, worried that the gift may be meant for her as she was one of the few Gryffindors in the castle for Winter break. When Remus noticed her come down the stairs, he stood from the couch with a wide grin on his face. Like Salus, Remus wasn't wearing his school uniform since there weren't any classes in session, and instead wore a faded blue jumper and scuffed jeans, and had his winter cloak draped over an arm. Salus wore a long sleeved, green shirt and a pair of old jeans and had her winter cloak tucked under her arm for her visit to the hippogriffs. Usually Salus' robes covered most of the small girl and hid most of her figure, but unlike her Gryffindor robes, her green shirt clung to the girl and showed off her thin frame. Remus felt heat rush to his cheeks when he noticed what Salus was wearing, but didn't let his eyes roam and held out his gift for her.

Remus already knew of Salus' dislike for the holiday, but didn't know why. He had spent the last week with the girl trying to find ways of distracting her from the sour mood that seemed to cling to her. Upon seeing her discomforted face at the notion that he might be giving her a Christmas present, he held up a finger before she could try and reject it.

"I promise you," Remus declared with a cheeky grin, and pushed the present into her hands, "that this _is not_ a Christmas present."

Salus raised a disbelieving brow at Remus' antics, and looked over the wrapped gift. Whatever it was, was packed in a small, long box, and had a neatly tied ribbon on top. Salus couldn't tell what it could be; the box was too big to be jewelry and too light to be a book. She was tempted to try and give it back to him, but decided that would be rude, and picked up the small card on the side, reading aloud,

 _"To Salus,_

 _For a random day which happens to coincide with the birth of a muggle biblical character._

 _Love, Remus."_

Salus closed her eyes as she tried her hardest to smother a laugh. Even if she had a grudge against the holiday, Remus' blatant scheme to make her enjoy herself was nothing but sweet. Even Lily hadn't tried something like this yet.

Remus beamed at Salus, proud to have made the girl smile and almost laugh, and urged with the excitement of a child, "Well, go on, open it!"

"But I don't have anything to give you in return," Salus replied, a twinge of guilt pulling at her chest.

"Your unending gratitude will just have to suffice then," Remus joked, his cheerful attitude not wavering in the slightest, "Now open it."

Salus carefully tugged on the ribbon, letting it slip off the box, and carefully edged off the boxes lid. Inside, settled gently on a small piece of cloth, was a quill. But it wasn't just any quill, the feather it was made from was long, thin, and a dark, stormy grey. The nib at the end was thin and sharp, and shined a beautiful silver. Salus took the elegant quill out of the box with thoughtful hands and gently ran a hesitant finger down the tip of it, afraid that it might crumble underneath her touch.

Something suddenly occurred to Salus, "Is this-?"

"A hippogriff feather?" Remus asked before she could finish, "Yeah, took me awhile to get it- Buckbeak didn't seem very pleased to be parting with it."

Salus looked up at Remus with disbelieving eyes, and carefully placed the quill back in the box. Remus quickly became very self aware of his gift, afraid that she may not like it, and began to stutter, "It's, um, it's charmed so you can change the ink colour to whatever you like, so, you could, sorry _can_ , can use it for writing notes or drawing. You know, whichever you-"

Remus was cut off when Salus threw her arms around his neck and pulled him down into a grateful hug. He didn't hesitate to return her affection, securely wrapping his arms around her waist and breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's _beautiful,_ Remus," Salus murmured, keeping a firm hold of him, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Remus replied, not wanting to part from the small girl in his arms, but eventually had to pull away.

"You know," Salus teased with a small smirk tugging at her lips, "This answers a very good question I've been wondering for a while."

"And what's that?" Remus asked.

"Who would win in a fight; a werewolf or a hippogriff?" Salus retorted with a cheeky grin.

Remus chuckled before replying, "To be fair it was an adolescent hippogriff, but if anyone asks; the werewolf managed to defeat a fully grown alpha male hippogriff."

"Of course, much more macho," Salus snickered, "Although female hippogriffs are much more aggressive than the males."

"Well, I'll keep that in mind the next time I go feather-robbing," Remus said, shaking his head at the girl humorously, before leading the short girl out of the common room, "Now, we have a very big day planned once we meet Jeremy for breakfast."

"Some 'random day that coincides with a biblical birth' celebrations?" Salus asked, raising a brow at the tall wolf.

"Well if that's too long, we could always call them 'Winter Solstice' celebrations, or 'Merry Saturday' celebrations," Remus replied, "Whichever is easier."

"Nice try, the Winter Solstice was on the 21st. Your a few days late." Salus replied cheekily.

"Well then I guess I'm wishing everyone a very happy Saturday," Remus replied and lightly took Salus' hand in his own to urge her faster down the corridor, "C'mon, we're going to have fun today, whether you like it or not."

"We'll see about that," Salus retorted, but couldn't help the grin that brightened her features.

They made their way to the Great Hall hand in hand, Remus not willing to let go and Salus not urging him to pull away. They quickly reached their destination, and made their way to the Ravenclaw table (where all of the remaining students decided to sit together since there was so few of them). Jeremy was there as well, looking slightly put out, but cheered up dramatically once he spotted Remus and Salus. They all quickly tucked into their meals, only exchanging snippets of polite conversation every few minutes. It quickly came to Salus' attention that there was a boy who kept glancing down the table at them. She didn't make her realization known and instead paid subtle attention to what the boy was doing. The Ravenclaw boy was probably in his fourth or fifth year, and looked down the table roughly every three minutes like clockwork. At first she considered that it was perhaps just his gaze wandering across the table, but quickly came to the conclusion that his stares were very intentional and aimed in the same direction each time. Finally decided that she was not imagining the Ravenclaw's strange attentions, she gently nudged Remus in the side and stated in a hushed tone, "I think the Ravenclaw near the end is staring at us."

Remus took a quick glance over the table, catching the Ravenclaw's state at the same time and forcing him to quickly look away. Getting the same feeling as Salus, Remus leaned over and asked, "Can you think of any reason why?"

Salus shook her head. His face was recognizable, probably from passing him in the halls, but she didn't know anything about him. Her mind quickly wandered to the Ravenclaws who had been picking on Jeremy and she was soon filled with concern that the Hufflepuff may be targeted again. Looking across the table at the younger boy, she raised an inquisitive brow at him, but he simply shook his head in reply. He'd never met the boy.

Deciding that the Ravenclaw wasn't a problem, Salus did one of the things she did best; she ignored him. Remus and Jeremy followed her lead and they didn't talk about the strange occurrence again. After breakfast they headed out of the castle together and down into the school grounds. They all had their winter cloaks wrapped around them securely to try and block out the icy winds. When the group of young hippogriffs saw the black haired girl tromping down the hill towards them, her two friends walking close behind her and some dead ferrets hanging from her hands, they all threw themselves to the edge of the fenced boundaries. They let out happy, bird-like chirps the closer Salus got to them, pushing against each other in excitement to get as close to the girl as they could.

The three teens spent an hour with the hippogriffs, tossing them chunks of food and horsing around, until Remus finally dragged Salus away from her most favoured creatures. After that they headed back into the castle; desperate to feel the warmth it provided instead of the harsh december winds. Inside the Great Hall, most of the students who had stayed for the holidays were there in separate groups playing various games. There were groups of two - mostly composed of Ravenclaws - playing wizard's chess, three small groups playing exploding snap, and the rest were playing various wizard board and card games that Salus couldn't identify. Remus wanted to play a game of wizard's chess but seeing as there was three of them, and Salus seemed very unenthusiastic of the game, he quickly lost interest. Instead they played a game of exploding snap with a third year Gryffindor and a fifth year Hufflepuff. Salus decided she liked this game much more than chess; every time one of the cards exploded Remus would practically jump from his skin, even when it wasn't his card that went off.

After a warm afternoon of playing games in the protective walls of the castle, the three students returned back outside. They commenced a historical snow fight during that late afternoon; most students got involved and they segregated themselves into teams, but at some point they turned on each other and it quickly became a free-for-all. By the time they got themselves back inside the castle they were all soaking wet and shivering. Jeremy decided to return to his own common room while Remus and Salus hurried back to theirs for clean, dry clothing.

Salus hopped into the shower the moment she returned to her dorm room. The hot water against her chilled skin made her nerves tingle and twitch pleasantly, but the odd sensation quickly passed and she was left with hot water and steam to sooth her muscles. After finishing she quickly got dressed and dried her hair, making sure her dark locks covered the sides of her face and ears, before heading back to the common room. Remus was already waiting for her on the couches, a book in hand, and smiled cheerfully when she came down.

"So are you having a happy Saturday?" Remus asked with a cheeky grin.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to admit that it's definitely been one of my better _Saturdays_ ," Salus rolled her eyes at the werewolf's antics before sinking into the couch beside him, "Thank you."

"For what?"

Salus shrugged and looked at her hands sheepishly, "For trying so hard, I guess, you didn't need to put in so much effort just to make me happy, but thank you."

"You're welcome," He replied with a grin, obviously quite proud of himself. A short moment of comfortable silence passed between the two before Remus brought himself to ask in a more serious tone, "Why do you try so hard to avoid the holiday?"

Salus paused for a moment, both expecting the question while feeling rather thrown off, finally she replied with a half-answer, "I just don't have many fond memories of the day, I suppose."

Remus hesitated, considering her answer, before asking, "What's the real reason you're not home for the holidays?"

"I thought I was supposed to be the perceptive one?" Salus tried to joke, but upon seeing Remus' set expression, any form of humor died on her, "Right, werewolf hearing. No lying for me."

Remus' eyebrows furrowed, mild frustration showing for only a second before being smothered with an expression of understanding, "You don't _have_ to tell me, if you don't want to, but if it's bothering you telling someone might help."

The burn on Salus' neck twinged in a taunting manner, as if reminding the girl why she hated the holidays so much, and she subconsciously rubbed the back of her neck as if to sooth the pain she knew to be psychosomatic. On instinct she wanted to reply with, "I'm fine," or, "nothing's bothering me," as she usually did, but knowing that'd be a lie, she hesitated.

"I don't particularly enjoy speaking about matters relating to my family," she finally brought herself to reply, hiding her emotions behind a formal front, "For now let's just settle for saying that it is better I stay at school."

Even if it hadn't been nearing the full moon, Remus still would have been able to hear the fluctuation in the girl's heart beat and the scent of fear that surrounded her. A protectiveness he was not fully familiar with swelled in his chest, and without fully thinking of the outcome he asked, "Your parents, do they hurt you?"

Salus was so taken back by the sudden, blunt question that she was only capable of staring with wide eyes, her mouth opening and closing awkwardly, not knowing how to respond. There was a moment of hoping he would draw back the question and say it's none of his business, but from his determined expression Salus realized that wasn't going to happen. For once she had no idea how to lie her way out of something. Although the young werewolf would not have required a response to know the answer; the girl's heart sounded as if it were trying to break from her chest.

For once luck was on the small girl's side, and in that moment Professor McGonagall rushed into the Gryffindor common room, a letter clasped in her hands and a distressed frown Salus had never seen twisting at her expression. Upon finding the two students, her lips thinned even further into a frown, "Miss Snape, Mr. Lupin, I'm afraid I'll have to be the bearer of bad news."

.

 **A/N: I'm sorry ahead of time. Any guesses? Leave them in the reviews.  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**_~Last Chapter~_**

 _"I don't particularly enjoy speaking about matters relating to my family," she finally brought herself to reply, hiding her emotions behind a formal front, "For now let's just settle for saying that it is better I stay at school."_

 _Even if it hadn't been nearing the full moon, Remus still would have been able to hear the fluctuation in the girl's heart beat and the scent of fear that surrounded her. A protectiveness he was not fully familiar with swelled in his chest, and without fully thinking of the outcome he asked, "Your parents, do they hurt you?"_

 _Salus was so taken back by the sudden, blunt question that she was only capable of staring with wide eyes, her mouth opening and closing awkwardly, not knowing how to respond. There was a moment of hoping he would draw back the question and say it's none of his business, but from his determined expression Salus realized that wasn't going to happen. For once she had no idea how to lie her way out of something. Although the young werewolf would not have required a response to know the answer; the girl's heart sounded as if it were trying to break from her chest._

 _For once luck was on the small girl's side, and in that moment Professor McGonagall rushed into the Gryffindor common room, a letter clasped in her hands and a distressed frown Salus had never seen twisting at her expression. Upon finding the two students, her lips thinned even further into a frown, "Miss Snape, Mr. Lupin, I'm afraid I'll have to be the bearer of bad news."_

.

Salus hated hospitals. Throughout her life she had spent more than enough time inside hospitals and medical wings to know that she hated them dearly. She was all too familiar with the smell of cheap cleaner used to disinfect every inch of surface, the scratchy blankets that would pull and catch on dry skin, and the overbearing feeling of death and distress that hung in the air. She had been inside medical wings for a multitude of reasons; when she had _'tripped_ ' and fallen down a flight of stairs, when Severus had ' _accidentally_ ' fractured his arm, when she _'knocked over_ ' a pot of boiling water onto herself, when her father had been too drunk to stand and suffering from alcohol poisoning, when she had a _'mishap_ ' while flying her broom, and now this. She wasn't always in a hospital for herself, but no matter what the circumstances were, it almost always ended badly. But this had to be the worst time so far.

As the young witch sat in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, her hatred and discomfort with hospitals only grew. A throbbing headache accompanied the stinging in her eyes, and Salus knew if she were to look in a mirror she would find them red-rimmed, and puffy. She could feel the tight pull in her cheeks from the dried tear stains, and hoped they weren't too noticeable. The girl's heart thrummed in her chest, making her gut feel as if it had been turned inside out, and made it nearly impossible to breath. A storm of emotions were rising in her chest, and it took all her self control to not let it loose. It was those reasons that she kept her eyes lowered on the hands folded in her lap, her hair falling and surrounding her like a black curtain, and she didn't look up even when she heard heavy footsteps approaching her. A large, masculine hand appeared in the corner of her eye, holding what looked like tea. Sniffling slightly, and looking up briefly, and found the man she had met only minutes ago.

"You look like you need a cup of tea," the man smiled, but there was a hint of distress in his features that overpowered any mask of happiness. From what she had seen and heard of him, Mr. Potter was a kind man, but at that moment Salus didn't have the energy to analyze James' father. He had the same hazel eyes as James, and brown hair that was beginning to get streaks of grey in it, but besides that Salus couldn't tell much through blurry eyes.

"Thank you," Salus replied meekly, and took the cup from his hands, but didn't drink any. Her stomach felt as if it had been twisted in a knot, and no cup of tea would help - even if it had been spiked with a double dose of calming draught. She kept her eyes trained on the cup and watched the steam twist and curl in the air. Salus' fingers were numb to the warmth radiating from the cup, bringing her to the realization that her limbs felt frozen even in the stifling heat of the hospital.

Slouched in another uncomfortable chair next to Salus was Remus, who was looking just as grave as she felt. She knew James and his mother were somewhere in the hospital, Mrs. Potter had been kicking up a much needed fuss when Salus and Remus had arrived via floo network, but Salus wasn't sure where they had gone. After dropping Remus and Salus off, and insuring they would be safe with Mr. and Mrs. Potter, McGonagall rushed back to Hogwarts to make preparations in the Hospital Wing of the school.

It felt like ages until Mrs. Potter and James returned, Salus knowing time had passed because the tea clasped in her hands was now ice cold. She quickly abandoned her cold tea to a small table set next to her. Mrs. Potter, despite her obvious distress, kept her head held high with a show of pride that most people could never hope to achieve. Her brows were pinched together in obvious frustration and she pulled her husband aside to speak privately. James slumped into the free chair on Salus' left, his face twisted and pale in a near agonized anger. He looked as if he needed desperately to say something, but didn't know how. Who could blame him? His best friend was laying in a hospital bed, and none of them were allowed to see him.

Wordlessly, Salus reached over to take James' hand, which had been digging into the wooden armrest of the chair. He didn't look at the small witch, but his grasp tightened slightly in gratitude.

"Mum called the aurors," James finally spoke, his voice catching slightly.

Salus didn't reply or look at the boy, but nodded her head gravely.

"She tried to tell them before, what was happening, but they never listened to her," James practically snarled, his anger coming back full force and smothering out his grief, "Said there was no proof."

"They'll have to do something now," Remus spoke, his tone having a similar growl to it as James'.

"Cases of child abuse," Salus muttered, scared that speaking will take away whatever breath she had managed to regain, "They _are_ hard to prove, and even if they can be, most of them go unsolved because of the ministry. Especially with the Black family involved. I doubt anything will change."

" _That doesn't mean they shouldn't try_!" James snapped, pulling his hand from the girl's grasp and glaring at her, " _Sirius could have **died** , Salus! Don't you care at all!? Why don't you try showing some sympathy for once instead of just sitting there!?"_

"James," Remus hissed in a warning tone, but it was too late. The damage was already done. A silent gasp escaped the witch's lips, the violent storm of emotions in her chest finally breaking free of its restraints. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand, hoping to stifle any further noise. Salus forced herself from her chair, embarrassment burning at her cheeks as she rushed from the waiting room, her breaths coming out in hiccuped sobs that made it even harder to breath. Her vision blurred as a fresh stream of tears began to prick at her eyes.

James stared with wide eyes in complete bewilderment as Salus fled the waiting room; he had never seen the witch show any from of emotion besides the odd smile or frown, she always remained so impassive. His mouth open and closed, not knowing what to do. He hadn't meant to snap like that, it had just slipped out. Remus stood from his chair, giving James a pointed glare as if to say 'we'll talk about this later' before following after the witch.

It wasn't difficult for Remus to find Salus, she had run to the washroom and he could hear her silent gasps and hiccups through the locked door. From the moment Salus and Remus had arrived at the hospital the overpowering scent of fear had been clouded around her, but he had been so distracted by everything around them that it almost went unnoticed. It was only when James had spoken that Remus had realized just how bad off Salus was.

"Salus?" Remus called, knocking on the door carefully and trying to open it, only to find it locked.

There was another silent gasp, but it was more muffled than a simple door would block out. She was covering her mouth with her hands, he realized. Remus wasn't sure what to do, the most upset he had ever seen Salus was when he had found her in the halls nearly crying, but she never told him why she had been that way no matter how many times he asked. Salus, whether by nature or by force, was not one to convey her emotions or thoughts, so to suddenly explode like that was more than a little concerning. Pulling out his wand, he pointed it at the lock on the door and muttered a silent ' _alohomora_ '. The door easily unlocked and clicked open slightly.

Salus wasn't found in the best of states; she had pressed herself against the tiled wall of the washroom, her shoulders hunched in on herself as sobs wracked through her. That same cloud of fear and anxiety surrounded the girl, and Remus suspected it wasn't just from her concern for Sirius. After their conversation in the Gryffindor Common Room just earlier that day, Remus had a very good idea why Salus was so afraid. It seemed Salus' situation was disturbingly similar to Sirius'.

"C'mere," Remus murmured, carefully pulling Salus into his arms. Salus didn't attempt to fight against him, but kept her head lowered into her hands. Remus kept one arm wrapped across the girl's shoulders, and the other pressed against the back of her head running against her hair soothingly. Salus pressed her forehead against Remus' chest, her eyes squeezed tightly shut and her shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs.

Salus finally managed to say between hiccups, "I-I shouldn't be a-acting like this, Sirius is h-hurt, I should be he-elping, bu- but I just-"

"It's okay, you're okay here," Remus soothed, "Take whatever time you need, Sirius is going to be fine. we can go see him once they let us, alright?"

Salus nodded slightly, dropping her hands from her face to instead wrap them around Remus' waist. She felt pathetic to be found crying like she had, and even worse for clinging onto the young werewolf, but his presence helped significantly.

Remus held onto the short girl, lowering his head so his cheek rested against the side of her head, his fingers still running through her hair in what he hoped was a soothing gesture. He felt a sudden change on the skin of her neck underneath his fingers, and it was only out of the corner of his eye that he saw a terrible scar that ran up the girl's neck, partially hidden by her long black hair. His movements froze as he took in the angry burnt skin, trying to figure out how she could have been injured in such a way, and coming to a horrifying conclusion.

"Don't tell anyone, Remus," Salus whispered against him, her shaking voice hardly carrying to him, "Please, you can't tell anyone."

Remus' hand shook slightly as he resumed his movements, his arms tightening around the small girl, and he replied huskily, "If that is what you want."

"It is."

.

When the small group of three somber students were allowed to see Sirius, they were met with skin that was black and blue, and a wincing smile that left them all speechless. Although most of the damage was hidden from view by hospital clothing and bedding, they could see the hints of bandages peeking from the collar of his shirt, and what was left of Sirius' clothing was folded next to the hospital bed - covered in blood. Sirius sat up slightly upon the group's arrival, which caused his face to momentarily screw up into an expression of pain, and he waved halfheartedly. No one really knew what to say, and looked among each other as if for guidance.

"Jeez who died?" Sirius tried to joke, which only earned glares of disapprovement and irritation, "Too soon?"

"Bit too soon, yeah," Remus nodded.

"Merlin you're such a dick," James muttered, before clearing the rest of the way towards Sirius and practically flopping on the boy in a hug.

Sirius gave a pained laugh and clapped James on the back before replying, "Love you too, Prongs, but bruised ribs."

"Right, sorry!" James quickly backed off, turning to try and hide the swipe of his sleeve across his cheek.

"How are you feeling, Sirius?" Remus asked dourly.

"Like I got ran over by the Knight bus and trampled by a troll," Sirius responded with a silent huff of dry laughter, "How's your Christmas going?"

"It'll be better once we can take you back to Hogwarts," Remus replied, not responding in the joking manor Sirius was trying to accomplish.

"Think if I flirt with one of the healers they'll let me out sooner?" Sirius asked jokingly, giving his best flirty wink through the bruises that littered across his face.

"You're incorrigible," Remus said, shaking his head, but the hints of a smile was pulling at his lips.

"You know you love it, Moony," Sirius laughed, but quickly stifled it as pain erupted in his ribs again.

Sirius' carefree attitude seemed to finally break through Remus and James' worry, and they both smiled at their injured friend before taking a seat on his bed. Only Salus remained standing, watching everything and feeling like an outsider. She had only truly met Sirius that year, every year before he had ignored her and she had done the same. She wasn't like James, Remus, and Peter; she hadn't built a friendship with the boys for the last five years. She had only considered him a friend for a mere three months now, it's not like they were especially close. To be in the room while the three boys talked felt like she was infringing on their privacy. Even James' parents stayed in the waiting room while their son saw to his best friend, so who was she to stay?

"Oi, Salus," Sirius barked, breaking the girl from her spiral of thoughts, "Don't just stand there, pull up a bed corner."

Warmth spread in the girl's chest as she did as she was told, perching on the corner of the hospital bed next to Sirius' legs. Within moments the boys' conversation turned to quidditch. Salus didn't participate, but watched and listened as they talked, keeping her main focus on Sirius. She had only been friends with him for a short few months, but despite that her concern for the boy amounted to the same level of concern she would feel for Lily or Severus if it were them lying in a hospital bed. That realization scared her a bit.

Despite the boys effort, along with the effort of James' parents, Sirius was not allowed to leave the hospital quite yet. The healers all insisted Sirius stayed overnight to evaluate whether or not the healing potions were doing their jobs. Fortunately for the group of students, they were being allowed to stay an hour past the usual visiting hours to keep Sirius company before being sent back to Hogwarts. Mr and Mrs. Potter were even letting James return to Hogwarts so that he could spend the rest of Christmas break with Sirius, even if he had to stay in the Hospital wing of the school. Because of that, James' parents were making him return home before Remus or Salus left so he could properly pack for the coming semester.

So it was just Remus, Sirius, and Salus sitting in the small hospital room, trying their best to remain quiet so none of the healers came to scold them. Sirius kept himself awake, despite his obvious exhaustion and the potions working against him, and he continued to try his best to keep the mood between the three friends light. He never mentioned what had happened to him, and he continued to make jokes in spite of his pain. Remus and Salus both knew he wasn't in a good place, but for his sake they indulged his need to simply be with his friends for a few hours. Pain and distress could be saved for another time, for now.

"I'm going to see if I can pinch some food from the kitchen," Remus brought up, standing from his corner of the bed, "You need anything, Sirius?"

"Are you kidding? I've got enough potions here to last a lifetime," Sirius snorted with sleep-deprived laughter. Remus merely shook his head, deciding to ask a healer for a tea with a hardy enough sleep potion slipped in, before addressing Salus.

"Do you want anything?" Remus asked Salus, his question weighing in the air a little more heavily than it had towards Sirius. Salus shook her head, but smiled and replied, "I'm good, thanks."

Remus nodded, his hand brushing across the top of Salus' head before exiting the hospital room in search of food and drugged tea, leaving Sirius and Salus to their own devices. Sirius shifted uncomfortably and questioned with less of a joking tone, "What was that all about? Something between you an' old Moony going on?"

"What? No, he's just- he's being Remus, he's always worried," Salus brushed off the question, "His concern is ill placed, don't worry about it."

"Why would Remus be concerned about you?" Sirius asked, before catching himself and rephrasing with a calculating hesitance, "What I mean is, should we be concerned for you?"

"Sirius, if there's anyone we should be concerned for, it's you," Salus replied, but Sirius saw through her poor attempt to pass off her problems.

Sirius sighed, sitting a little straighter in the bed despite the pain in his ribs, and said with a dry chuckle, "You know, I was saving this chat for a better time, but I suppose we can't make this day any more horrid." His expression shifted, only for a moment, to one that carried far too much for a boy his age. Finally seeming to find his words, Sirius' grey eyes met Salus', "One of the biggest differences between me and you, is that everyone knows what my home life is like. Everyone knows all about the Black who's been disgraced because he was placed in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin, my parents have announced their disappointment in me since first year. And all of that rubbish only got worse each year, and all the purebloods know about it…" Sirius face pinched in a cross between pain and bitterness, but he seemed to shake off whatever memory was plaguing him and continued with even more conviction than before, "Everyone knows about the shit I deal with, but we know _nothing_ about what you're dealing with, and that's a hell of a lot scarier, Salus."

"What are you talking about?" Salus asked, her brows knitting together, "Maybe you should rest for a bit."

"No, no," Sirius said defiantly, but with the slightest slur that gave away just how tired he really was, "If I don't say all of this now with all of these potions clouding me up, I never will."

The small girl was going to try and persuade him once again but was interrupted by Sirius whispering with a broken voice, "Salus, I'm scared for you."

"Why would you ever be scared for me?" Salus asked, her confusion growing.

"Because- because you never tell us anything!" Sirius suddenly burst, "None of us, we don't know anything about your- your family, and Lily told me that sometimes you have nightmares, and I looked in one of your books - those drawing books - the one you yelled at me for looking at, and I just-" Salus didn't know what to do. Sirius was always so lighthearted and joking around her, but now, with all of the potions breaking down his resolves and inhibitions, she had never seen so much emotion on his face. She had never seen him truly upset before, but at that moment his eyes were beginning to shimmer and turn red and his features were steadily twisting into an expression of anguish.

"Sirius, I'm fine," Salus tried to reassure, "You just need to sleep this off, and you'll feel better in the morning-"

"I'm scared, Salus!" Sirius practically shouted at the girl, "Don't you understand? I don't- I can't have you end up like me. I don't want you to get h-hurt, I don't want you to be like me. And I know, I know your parents are like mine, they- they don't treat you right! I can't just sit here and wait for you to be next, for you to be the next one in the hospital because I didn't think I'd wake up, and the thought of losing any of you-"

"You're not going to lose any of your friends, Sirius," Salus promised taking one of Sirius' larger hands into her own, "James, Remus, Peter; they're all safe. James and Peter are with their parents, and Remus will be right back. And you're not going to get hurt anymore either, James' parents will take care of you now. You don't have to worry."

"Who's going to take care of you?" Sirius slurred, finally kneeling over and leaning his forehead against the girl's shoulder, not letting go of her hands, "I don' wanna lose you."

"I'm not going anywhere, Sirius," Salus replied, trying to shift his weight back onto the bed, "I- I have . . . I have Severus, he keeps me safe."

"He's garbage," Sirius slurred tiredly, finally resting his head back on the bed, his eyelids beginning to droop, "he's no good at his job."

"I know," Salus replied, but her voice was so hushed and Sirius was so far gone that he didn't hear her reply.

"I'll keep you safe," Sirius said finally, his hands still clasped around the girl's smaller hands, and his eyes closing as a silent snore began to sound.

"I know you will," Salus replied to deaf ears, her eyes beginning to water but not ever spilling over. Even if his claims were made in a potion filed haze, she knew he meant what he said, and she had unwavering faith he would be true to his word.

.

 **A/N: I have no idea how I feel about this chapter, it was all at a rather consistent high level of emotional tension, but I tried to slip in a few light jokes. Let me know what you think with reviews, or private message me. Who are you hoping Salus ends up with? I already know who she'll end up with, but I like to see you all guessing. Hope you enjoyed!**


	11. Chapter 11

Sirius was moved to the Hogwarts hospital wing the day after Christmas. Remus and Salus had returned to Hogwarts the night before, but they met Sirius once again in the morning and found him still looking quite battered, but pleased to be back home. James joined them soon after, and then Peter, who had received a letter from Remus explaining what had happened. Remus and Salus didn't discuss what had happened in the hospital washroom, and Sirius and Salus never mentioned what had happened before he had passed out - although that was partially because Salus wasn't sure if he remembered anything. Everyone skirted around the subject of what Sirius had gone through, and instead they spent their day keeping him company, and planning how they would welcome all of the teachers and students back from winter break. They had a few days before students would be returning, and of course the marauders had to have something planned. Something extravagant, something elegant, something involving dungbombs.

Of course, that stunt led to James, Remus, and Peter being sentenced to enough detentions to last a month, and the Great Hall needing to be aired out for three days. Sirius only managed to escape McGonagall's wrath because there was no way to prove he had helped in any way from a hospital bed. Although Lily, Salus, and the marauders knew better. With the Great Hall being evacuated, and Dumbledore's announcement of the current Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher needing to be replaced after an untimely accident, classes had been postponed until further notice.

It wasn't only the DADA teacher's sudden resignation, Sirius' disownment, or even the "Great Stink of '76" (as the Great Hall incident was later called) that made the holidays a somber time. During the winter break there had been a number of attacks against muggleborns and those who supported them. All of the parents and teachers tried to keep it away from the students, worried about the effect it would have on them, but they all knew what had happened. Three families had been killed, all parents, guardians, or relatives of muggleborns, and five others had been attacked. Without making an announcement of it, six students had been pulled from the school by their parents. Suddenly it felt like there was a new target taped on the back of every muggleborn and those who supported them. Attacks like this had begun before Christmas break, but they had never been as cold blooded or as publicized as this one. After the news had reached her, Lily returned to Hogwarts in poor spirits. There had been whispers of a new organization terrorizing muggleborns and half bloods, but no one had wanted to believe that such a thing were happening. And they especially didn't want any students to know. For their own good, of course.

Seeing the sudden drop in student morale, Dumbledore decided to use the extra week of break to host a ball. When the Triwizard Tournament had still been a tradition, the hosting school would have held a Yule Ball, but because of the discontinuance of the tournament the ball was no longer a tradition. It was a tad too late to have a Yule Ball, as that was generally held on Christmas Day, so instead they were hosting a New Year's Ball - although even that was a week after New Years. Dumbledore's plan definitely worked; for the entire week leading up it was all anyone was talking about. Girls could be found chatting about what they planned to wear, who they wanted to go with, and what they were planning to do with their hair and makeup. Contrarily, the boys were occasionally caught freaking out over how they were supposed to ask the girls they were interested in. The only males not facing such a problem was one Sirius Black, and James Potter. Sirius because he had banished from the ball due to his injuries (and the fact that McGonagall was still angry about the Great Hall incident), and James because the boy was far too overconfident and knew exactly who he wanted to ask.

"James, for the last time, _no_ ," Salus finally snapped, sitting with Remus, Peter, James and Sirius in the Hospital Wing for their 'emergency' meeting. Which had only been called because James was being stupid and the marauders all decided they needed a Lily expert (who wasn't a borderline stalker) to make decisions for him, "No Shakespeare, in fact don't quote anyone, alright? That's not even close to how you're supposed to ask someone out normally. _Especially_ Lily."

"But-"

"No, James," Salus sighed, "It didn't work the last three times, it won't work this time."

The other three marauders didn't have to technically be there, but watching Salus get mad at James was too funny to pass up. Salus was still a little angry at James for how he had snapped at her in the hospital, so this was her way of subtle revenge.

"When you ask Lily you will keep it simple, to the point, and you will ask politely," Salus instructed.

"But what if she says no that way?" James sulked, "Two guys have asked her 'simply' already and she said no to them!"

"Then too bad for you!" Salus nearly yelled, "You can't make Lily want to go with you! If you pull that overdramatic rubbish she's going to say no, she doesn't think you're taking her feelings seriously. If you ask her properly and she still says no then there's nothing you can do."

James slumped in his chair and twiddled his thumbs, looking like a pouting child, "Okay."

"I'm warning you now, Potter, if you pull anything with Lily before or during the dance that I consider ungentlemanly, I will beat your head in with one of Hagrid's shovels," Salus said with an unwavering tone, "I will make you look like a bloody accident if you cross her."

James recoiled slightly but nodded and muttered, "Understood; poor manners equals death, I'll keep that in mind."

"Good," Salus huffed, leaning back in her chair.

"Don't you think you're being a bit strict about all this?" Peter asked hesitantly.

"No," Salus replied without hesitation, "Lily has enough to deal with without James acting like an arse in front of the school."

"Rude," James muttered.

"But true," Salus responded.

"Guys, let's remember the second reason we're meeting," Remus brought the rest of them to attention, before addressing Salus, "How is your animagus training going?"

Salus frowned, a slight embarrassed flush spreading across her cheeks, "Not as well as I expected; I've done the spell twice now, two weeks apart like instructed, and barely changed at all. The first time my nails grew a bit longer, but it only lasted half a second. The second time my eyes changed colour, but that one only lasted a minute."

"What do you think you'll be?" Sirius asked excitedly.

"I have no idea; most animals have claws so that didn't help, and my eyes changed to a weird orangey-red mixture, so I don't have a lot to go on," Salus said grumpily.

"It'll happen eventually, just keep working at it," James shrugged.

"What shape were the pupils in the animagus' eyes?" Remus asked.

"Round, and small, like if you shined a light on someone's eye really suddenly," Salus tried to explain.

"Hm, that doesn't help all that much," Remus muttered, "I suppose you can cross 'cat' off the list of possibilities though."

"And snake," Peter added.

"Ah yes, the infamous clawed snake - it was the eyes that indicated she couldn't possibly be it," Sirius said sarcastically.

"Do you have a better idea to figure out what it is?" Peter responded.

"What about your Patronus?" Sirius asked Salus, "I mean, mine didn't match my animagus form, but James and Peter's did. That might help give a clue at least."

"I've never been able to do that spell well enough to form a clear animal," Salus admitted, "I almost got it once, but I couldn't quite make it out, and it's always really small."

"That's not that surprising, everything about you is small," James snickered.

"Rude," Salus repeated his complaint from earlier.

"But true," all three marauders replied.

"Maybe you're some kind of mouse, or rodent?" Peter suggested, appearing happy that he might not be the only animagus smaller than a quaffle. Salus really hoped that wasn't true.

"Maybe," She muttered, thinking to herself.

"Well the next section of the Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook mentions the patronus charm, maybe the new professor will talk about it?" Remus suggested.

"Yeah hopefully," Salus said, "I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but it just never turns out right."

"What memory are you using?" Sirius asked, "Maybe it's not powerful enough?"

"Seeing a baby puffskein," Salus lied without hesitation, but upon seeing looks of disapproval from Remus, Sirius, and surprisingly even James, she reprised, "Okay, yeah, that was a weak lie on my part."

"Wait- that was a lie?" Peter questioned.

"Apparently not that weak," Salus corrected.

"C'mon, you can tell us," Sirius encouraged, "Is it embarrassing?"

"A little," Salus winced, but upon seeing the boys' expectant stares, mumbled silently, "I thought about the first time I ever saw Hogwarts; when we were on the boats crossing the lake. The castle was so beautiful, and I had Severus and Lily there with me. I don't know, it's silly I guess, it just made me feel safe? Secure, I suppose."

"That's not silly at all," Remus supplied, "Hogwarts is home - of course it's a happy memory."

Salus shrugged halfheartedly, "I suppose, but the memory doesn't feel like enough anymore."

"Could be because it was so long ago?" James questioned, "Hard to be happy about something if you can hardly remember it."

"I think it's because of Severus," Salus admitted silently, "We've hardly spoken lately - he's rather upset with me."

She could practically feel the four boys efforts not to insult her brother, and although that made her somewhat happy, at that moment she wouldn't have minded to hear every gibe and taunt they had for her twin. She was used to witnessing the cold shoulder Severus would show anyone he was angry with, but he had never done that to her. Even through all of their spats growing up, they were still siblings, and they had treated each other as their first and foremost priority. Except now Severus was acting like she didn't even exist. All because of how they had greeted each other after Winter Break had ended.

.

" _You don't understand, Salus, he can help us!" Severus had hissed, his hands clamped down on her elbows and staring at her with a feverish and excited glint in his dark eyes, his voice echoing around the empty classroom he had pulled them into._

" _You can't be serious, Severus! How could you work for someone like- like him!? You've seen all the news articles- heard about all the things he has done. Could you do that to Lily?" Salus pleaded, her voice quavering._

" _If all of these attacks are happening to the mud- muggleborns, how long do you think it will be until the Dark Lord targets half-bloods as well?" Severus snarled, "I'm trying to protect us, Sister!"_

" _Are you even hearing yourself!?" Salus shouted, "How long have you been doing this behind my back!?"_

" _About as long as you've been consorting with your bloody Gryffindor twits!" Severus retorted, his dark eyes that had been excited only moments before now filled with malice, "Do whatever you bloody well like! But when you realize what a mistake you've made don't expect me to be there to help you."_

" _Wait, Severus-" Salus tried to stop him, but with the swish of his robes and the slam of the classroom door, he was gone._

 _._

"I'm... dealing with him," Salus supplied, breaking from her memories, "Don't worry about it."

"Well until your on better grounds, maybe a replacement memory is in order?" Remus asked, wanting to comment but deciding against it.

"I'll think of something," Salus sighed, standing from the bed corner, "Not right now, though, right now I have an appointment with a she-devil."

"Is dress shopping really that bad?" Sirius asked with a disbelieving snicker.

"The day you have to wear a dress is the day you can tease me for hating it," Salus retaliated, "Now I have to go, the sooner I get there the sooner it's over."

Salus left, hearing in passing as the boys began properly devising how they were going to ask the girls they were interested in. Seeing as she had only told off James about quoting Shakespeare, she wasn't sure who the other two boys were going to ask, but didn't consider it any of her business. Although curiosity was going to eat at her until she knew. Shaking away the thought of eavesdropping, resolving that it was far too Slytherin for her to indulge in today, she left the hospital wing in search of Lily.

.

The students were allowed to go to Hogsmeade on three of the days leading up to the Ball to give them a chance to find proper dress robes or gowns, if they didn't have some already. Now neither Salus or Lily were particularly wealthy, so they were both a bit antsy to be spending so much money on dresses, but after many words of encouragement from their dorm-mate, Alice, they could be found looking through the few shops located in the small wizarding village. Lily was much more excited about the Ball than Salus, and quickly found a gown that she thought was perfect for herself, while Salus skimmed through dresses and robes with little interest.

"I think this one would look perfect on you!" Lily exclaimed, holding up a backless pale green dress.

Salus frowned slightly before reminding her friend once again, "I can't have an open back or no sleeves."

Lily frowned slightly in disappointment, "it's not the 40's, Salus, women can wear at least _slightly_ revealing clothes."

"It is in the wizarding world," Salus replied, "Besides, you know that's not the reason."

"If your scar bothers you so much I can help you cover it with makeup," Lily said, "plus, if anyone said anything about it, you know I would hex them in a heartbeat."

"Which is why I'm not showing it off," Salus joked, "I don't think our friendship would do too well if you were in Azkaban for killing a classmate."

"Not killing, just a light maiming," Lily grinned.

"Besides, I think if I wore anything green the boys would pitch a fit," Salus snickered, before pausing and muttering to herself, "Actually, maybe I should wear _only_ green."

Lily laughed and shook her head, placing the dress back on the rack, "Perhaps not."

"Guys, I'm _bored,_ " Jeremy groaned from the corner, his tall frame slumped on a short stool, "Can't you just _pick one?_ "

"Why did you even come if you knew we were dress shopping?" Lily laughed.

"I wanted to buy candy," Jeremy flushed, scuffing his foot against the floor, "Didn't want to go by myself."

"You could have tagged along with Peter and Remus," Lily supplied.

"Salus said that was a bad idea," he admitted.

"Where Remus and Peter go, James and Sirius usually aren't far behind," Salus defended before admitting, "You're so sweet, I'm scared they'll corrupt you."

"That's fair," Lily nodded, trying to sound serious but laughing despite herself, "That's a very good reason."

They went on like that for another hour before finally finding a dress that Lily claimed to be 'the perfect one', and Salus actually didn't mind. There was still two days before the Ball, but Salus felt like her nerves were already shot. She had never really had a reason to dress so formally before; the nicest clothing she owned were her Hogwarts robes, and even those were second hand. Even worse, she had never been to any kind of ball or dance before, so she had no idea how to dance or act proper. The purebloods were lucky in that aspect; they were all tutored and trained from a young age to have perfect etiquette, even if those like James and Sirius didn't really show it. They may not have flaunted it, but their pureblood upbringing definitely showed. Even if James' writing was more chicken scratch than anything, Salus had also seen him use a more formal calligraphy before. Albeit he only did that when sending the occasional love letter to Lily, but the fact still remained that he had the ability. And even though both boys would deny it, all of their cursing and slang had been picked up from Remus, not the other way around like most would believe. Especially because most people wouldn't believe that kind, mild mannered Remus could curse like a sailor.

Another problem that Salus was facing was the prospect of bringing a date. James was planning on asking Lily, although Salus wasn't sure when or whether the redhead would say yes, so she didn't want to rely on going with her friend. She didn't think anybody would be interested in asking her, she certainly didn't know that many people, and those she did know couldn't possibly be interested. The thought of asking Jeremy to accompany her, seeing as he seemed far too shy to ask anyone himself, had crossed Salus' mind, but somehow even he had managed a date. The Ravenclaw boy, who had been caught staring at Salus, Remus, and Jeremy during Christmas, had apparently been focusing on the Hufflepuff boy. When the ball was first announced it didn't take long for the Ravenclaw, a boy named Alton Cresswell, to ask Jeremy to accompany him. It seemed that he had been wanting to befriend Jeremy for a while but didn't know how. And so, Salus had resigned to going by herself. In her mind, no one would wanted to ask her. Unknown to her, there were two boys both silently fighting to find a way to ask her.

.

 **A/N;** **Sorry for the sudden ending, but I decided to save the rest of the festivities for the next chapter.**

 **Review or PM me if you have any thoughts, ideas, or just general comments!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N; sorry I haven't updated in a while, college is going to be the death of me.**

The New Year's Ball was only three days away, and the stress was beginning to eat at Salus. She didn't have a date, she had never danced - formal or otherwise, and she had no idea what to do with her hair, makeup, or other such frivolities. Along with that, James had not yet asked Lily to accompany him, and Salus was worried he might be planning something ridiculous. Something like quoting Shakespeare, which - as they had already discussed - was off the table. It came to her great surprise when there were not one, but two, very formal and very public Ball proposals during breakfast in the Great Hall.

Breakfast that morning had seemed just as normal as any other, of course there was a silent anticipation for the upcoming Ball, and everyone was curious to meet the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, but nothing eventful happened thus far. That is, until James Potter entered the Great Hall, looking less confident than normal, with a rose hanging from his hand. His entrance hadn't caught anyone's attention until he stopped in front of Lily, cleared his throat, held out the rose, and asked in a clear tone that rung through the Great Hall like a knife, "Lily Evans, would you do me the honour of accompanying me to the New Year's Ball?"

At this point the Great Hall had gone dead silent. Of course, there had been one or two more public proposals, but most students preferred to ask where they weren't open to ridicule. But as James stood in front of Lily, he looked as if he couldn't have cared less what they all thought of him, his attention was taken completely by the redhead he had been infatuated with since first year. Lily's green eyes were wide in very apparent shock. She searched for any hidden joke or prank he may have had hidden away, but his expression showed nothing but sincerity.

"I - um, yeah alright," Lily stuttered, her cheeks heating up in embarrassment as she tentatively took the rose from his hand.

James face lit up instantaneously, and any formality he had been holding onto before melted away, "Brilliant!"

Claps and cheers sounded from the entirety of the Gryffindor table, and even from some of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. No one thought he would have managed it, but James Potter had actually convinced Lily Evans to give him a chance. Albeit a slim one. Although some of the teachers may have sent small glares in the Gryffindors direction, no one put a stop to the wolf whistles, cheers, and shouts. At this point Lily's cheeks were bright red with embarrassment. James sat down beside Lily, his grin never faltering, and turned to Remus with a very pointedly raised eyebrow.

"Well I suppose that's my cue," Remus muttered to himself, a faint blush beginning to spread across his cheeks as he stood from the table, reached into his robes, and pulled out a similar rose.

Salus hadn't been paying particular attention to Remus when he stood from the table beside her, as her gaze was captured by James and Lily in that moment, so when she turned her head and found a rose being held out towards her, it certainly took her by surprise. Her bright blue eyes met Remus' yellow-flecked eyes and found them held with a determination and hope, his cheeks becoming even more coloured.

"Salus Prince," Remus' voice may not have held the same confidence as James', but it certainly held the same sincerity, "Would you do me the pleasure of accompanying me to the New Year's Ball?"

"Wha- you- you really want to go with me?" Salus asked once she was able to remember how to speak.

"Unless there's another Salus here, I do believe I am asking you," Remus replied with a cheeky grin, a hint of confidence returning to him.

Salus couldn't help the smile that pulled at her lips, standing from the table she took the rose from him and replied, "I'd be happy to go with you, Remus."

The smile that overtook Remus' features could easily compete with James' similar expression of joy, and he took the short girl's hand in his own to formally brush his lips against her knuckles, earning even more whistles and cheers from the apprehensive Gryffindors.

"Sorry to ask so publicly," Remus said anxiously once they sat down again, and the Great Hall had calmed slightly, "James made me promise to ask the same time as him."

"Uh-huh, and how long have you two been planning that?" Salus asked with a quirked eyebrow.

Remus laughed embarrassedly, scratching the back of his neck, and replying, "Oh, not long."

"Since Oct- OW!" James yelped when Remus's foot connected with his shin underneath the table.

"Not long," Remus repeated, a bright red flush growing across his cheeks, earning a round of laughter from those who knew better. Salus, ever naive of the effect she could have on those around her, didn't understand what was so funny, and decided it best to drop the subject. Instead she twirled the red rose between her fingers, and silently felt relieved that she had a friend to go with to the Ball.

.

It had been decided that for the entirety of the time that Sirius had to remain in the hospital wing, the marauders, Salus, and even Lily, surprisingly enough, would spend their lunch and whatever free time during the day with him. On that particular day they all had much to talk about when they went to see Sirius. Unfortunately James was not yet there when they shared the news of him and Lily going to the Ball together, the news of which prompted Sirius to ask Lily if she needed to see a mind-healer, because James always had a much more dramatic way of reenacting events. Fortunately, his entrance into the Hospital Wing made up for that.

"Sirius! The most terrible, most horrendous, most- most bloody awful thing has happened!" James practically screamed across the Hospital Wing as he stormed over to the awaiting marauders, Salus, and Lily.

"Did Filch find your storage of dungbombs again?" Sirius asked between bites of his lunch, "I've told you before, mate, the man's got the nose of a blood hound."

"What- no that's not what I'm talking about. Davey Gudgeon broke his arm and leg during winter break and is stuck at St. Mungos! The Gryffindor team is down a seeker now and our next game is in two weeks!" James yelled, throwing himself into one of the chairs around Sirius' bed, completely missing Madam Pomfrey's glare of disapproval.

"Well surely the healers will have him fixed up before then?" Remus asked as if it were obvious.

"Not when he also broke both his legs, three ribs, and is bleeding internally," James grumbled, "Honestly, it's like he has no respect for our game plans! Just had to go and get hit by a muggle bus."

"Yes, he did it out of pure spite towards quidditch," Salus muttered sarcastically to Lily, earning a muffled laugh in reply.

"How am I supposed to find a competent seeker and have them trained up for the next match in time!?" James continued on, stealing some of Peter's lunch off his plate as he spoke, "Arranging tryouts and trying to find someone who's a half competent flyer will be horrendous."

"Hey, Salus, why don't you try out?" Lily asked, paying no mind to the withering glare the smaller girl sent her, a knowing smile playing on the red-heads lips.

" _You_ can fly?" James asked disbelievingly.

"No, Lily's being ridiculous," Salus replied and returned to her breakfast.

"Yes she can!" Lily defended herself, "She tried out in second year, but the captain that year wouldn't let her on the team because of her height."

Salus' face burned in embarrassment, and she prodded at her lunch as if it was the most interesting things in the world. Sirius, who was sitting next to Salus, draped an arm over her shoulders and said humorously, "Well no kidding, Salus in second year must have been the size of a kneazle! But why didn't you tell us? You could have played with us on the weekend when Peter hit himself with the Beater's bat - it would've been a lot funnier with more witnesses."

"I don't fly anymore," Salus muttered into her sandwich, scowling slightly, "Just drop it."

"Just because you didn't make one tryout?" Remus asked, "James didn't get on the team until his third year, and he tried out five times."

"I fell from my broom and Severus hasn't let me fly since," Salus admitted, only telling a half truth.

"Everyone falls eventually! That's not a good reason to quit," Peter commented, earning an elbow in his side from Remus.

"If you don't want to fly you don't have to, Salus," Remus said understandingly.

"Severus says I'm not allowed anymore," Salus muttered, "He knows what's best."

"Aren't you two in a bit of a row?" Sirius questioned in a teasing tone, "It's not like he's hanging around to dictate your every move; you can do _fun_ things once in awhile without your big brothers approval."

"Little brother, I'm twelve minutes older," Salus reminded.

Looking over Salus, James replied speculatively, "I _really_ don't think those twelve minutes counted for much. How are you two even related? Sniv- sorry, the other Snape, is like six feet tall, and - you know what, this wasn't apart of the conversation, we'll address your height problem later. The point Sirius and I are trying to make is that you can't let your brother boss you around."

Salus sighed, "Listen, I _can't_ fly, James. I haven't even gone near a broom in years."

"Well why not just try anyways, you might have fun! Even if you don't make the team, you could still go flying with me and Sirius," James practically pleaded, before adding as if it were an afterthought, "Plus with your size you'll be able to fly and catch the snitch faster than the other team."

"I'll think about it, okay?" Salus finally relented, not looking up from her food, "Just drop it."

Of course, James took that as a 'yes' and smirked triumphantly at the other three boys. Salus had no idea what she had just signed herself up for.

.

"Salus!" James called as he raced down the corridor towards the short girl, who had been making her way to the Great Hall for dinner.

"Great news!" he announced cheerfully, a wide grin split across his face, "I talked to McGonagall and she let us book the quidditch pitch for tomorrow, so we can all practice together before try-outs without worrying about any other students about! It'll just be a small group of us so you don't have anything to worry about, right?"

"How did you get 'yes, I'll do it' from 'I'll think about it'?" Salus asked dryly.

"I prefer to read between the lines," James replied cheekily, "It's already booked so no backing out, yeah?"

Salus sighed wearily, "James, I really don't think it's a good idea. It's been a _really_ long time, and I- I fell really bad the last time. I don't know if I can-"

"I thought you said other Snape caught you?" James said with a quirked brow, "Besides, me, Remus, and Lily will be there to make sure you don't get hurt."

With a friendly clap on the shoulder, James said a quick, "I'll see you at dinner, alright? I know you'll do fine tomorrow," before turning on his heel and heading back down the corridor to merlin only knew where.

"Great," Salus whispered unsteadily, left alone in the corridor with her thoughts, and no longer having any appetite for dinner. At that moment, there was only one place she felt like going. With her mind made up, she continued down the corridor with a new destination in mind.

Opening the door to the Hospital Wing tentatively, Salus found Sirius sitting up in his hospital bed wolfing down a meal that the house elves must have brought him. Upon seeing the girl, a grin broke out on Sirius's still very bruised face, "Hey, I didn't think I'd see you until later, pull up a bed corner. Have you eaten yet?"

Warmth washed over Salus as she made her way over and sat on the edge of Sirius's hospital bed, tucking her legs underneath herself, "Nah, I lost my appetite."

"Well if you're nice and swear undying loyalty to me, I might be swayed to share some of mine," Sirius said cheekily.

"Thanks, but I think I'll wait for something a little more pressing than an empty stomach before getting myself stuck with you for the next hundred years," Salus replied dryly, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Her anxiety from before was already disappearing.

"You wound me, witch," Sirius replied dramatically, holding a hand over his heart, "So did you come just to mock me, or were you missing your favourite marauder?"

"Bit of both," Salus said, "Needed light company, if that makes sense."

"Bit contradictory to my namesake, but I'll take it," Sirius said, taking another bite of his dinner, before saying, "So I'm 'light' company?"

Salus shrugged, "I don't know how to explain it. I just feel less worried around you, I guess. You make me laugh."

"And that is something I will always take pride in, but you seem kind of upset," Sirius noted, but kept his tone easy, "Wanna talk about it?"

"I guess I'm just a little worried about the whole flying thing," Salus admitted lowly, "James reserved the pitch and everything."

"You really hate flying that much?" Sirius asked.

"I don't really know. I haven't flown in a _really_ long time," Salus looked away, rubbing her arm uncomfortably, "My fall, it was - it was really bad. Severus would be furious if he knew what James was planning."

"But he caught you right?" Sirius questioned, scarfing down more food in between sentences, "I mean, you didn't get _hurt,_ right?"

Salus' hesitance hung in air between them before she finally said, "Yeah, I didn't get hurt. I guess it just scared us."

"If it makes you feel any better James and Remus will both be there. I'll even sneak out if I can," Sirius encouraged, "Plus, if you don't like it then just tell James to bugger off, and you don't have to do it ever again."

"Thanks," Salus smiled before standing from the bed, "Anyways, I better get to the Great Hall before Lily sends a search party. Enjoy your dinner, I'll probably come back with James and Peter later."

"Hey, before you go," Sirius stopped the girl in her tracks, "Is it true that you and Remus are going to the Ball together?"

"Yeah, why?" Salus asked.

"No reason," Sirius replied, his smile looking a little more forced this time, "I heard from James and thought he might've been pulling my leg."

"Oh, alright, well see you later," Salus said as a departing remark, not noticing the black haired boy place down his fork and push his dinner away. It seems he had lost his appetite as well.

.

 **A/N: I know this chapter is a bit shorter than usual, but I have a couple of things that wouldn't fit so well in this one. Leave any suggestions or comments with the reviews, and if you want to ask or talk to me directly then private message me. Hope you enjoyed!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I know, I haven't updated in a while. I'm a terrible person, and you're all free to burn me at the stake.**

.oOo.

 _Despite the warm oranges, reds, and yellows that splashed across the evening sky, the sun just beginning to fall beneath the tree line of the Forbidden Forest, the air so high off the ground was anything but warm. The wind felt as if it were cutting against Salus' flushed cheeks, and it whipped black wisps of hair in front of her face. Salus leaned back on her broomstick, her legs dangling down, and her grasp on the broom slackening. She could feel the sky beginning to darken, a chill slowly spreading across her body even under layers of clothing. Despite the sunset before her, a scene which would usually send the artistic part of herself reeling with creative energy, the small girl felt nothing. Even the chill and the cutting wind was barely felt in her numbed state. Salus couldn't hear anything but the thrum of her own heartbeat; she couldn't hear the flutter of wings as birds flew past, she couldn't hear the howling wind, and she couldn't hear her brothers thundering footsteps hundreds of feet below her. Nor his shouts and screams. She looked out over the forest, a place she had always thought to be so beautiful and haunting, and she let her fingers loosen completely from the broom._

 _Salus' body slid off the side of the broom, and she could feel a pull in her stomach as she fell towards the Earth. She couldn't hear anything as she fell, not the wind rushing all around her, or even her heartbeat slamming against her chest, but the one thing she did hear was her brother. She heard his shouted incantations, felt his arms wrap tightly around her, and was surrounded by the warmth of her brother's shaking form._

 _As darkness began to fill her vision, she faintly heard Severus' whimpered, "Dammit, Salus."_

.oOo.

"Salus, are you awake yet?" Salus was startled awake by Lily's voice on the other side of her bed curtains, "I thought I could help you tie your hair back for today; you know, for flying practice."

Salus rubbed the sleep from her eyes, reaching under her pillow to grab her wand, and undid the one-way silencing charms around her bed, "Yeah, I'm up."

Shoving the curtains out of the way, Salus forced herself from under her quilts and sat up with a groan of protest. Even without looking she knew that Lily and her were the only ones in their dorm room, all the other girls made too much noise in the morning, and their room was deadly silent. She didn't usually sleep past the other girls, and the feeling of sleeping so long left her brain feeling overheated and mushy. That, combined with the anticipation of flying, and the disturbing chill that ran up her spine from the memories leftover from her nightmare, made her feel worse than usual.

"I don't think I can do this," Salus grumbled, running her hands through her tangled hair, standing and grabbing clothes from her dresser.

"You said you would, and James already booked the field for the afternoon," Lily responded without hesitation, preplanning any arguments Salus might have against flying. Sitting on Salus' bed, she waited for the girl as she changed into her casual clothes, and sorted through her bag of makeup and various muggle and magical cosmetics. Once Salus was finished getting dressed, she went back to her bed and sat down in front of Lily.

"Okay so I'm thinking we'll fix your hair up out of your face, and then we can cover your scar with makeup, if that is still what you want?" Lily explained, and at Salus' nod of approval, motioned for Salus to turn around so her back faced towards Lily, "I might have to use a couple of charms on your ear, but they won't last very long."

"Fine," Salus replied monotonously.

Lily began dragging her hairbrush through the knots in Salus' dark hair, "Don't be cross, you need to get over your fear of flying eventually. Everyone falls, Salus, it was a small accident and you didn't get hurt. I think being on a team will be good for you."

"Yes, mother," Salus replied primly. She knew Lily had the best intentions, but Lily didn't know the whole story. No one but Severus did.

Lily made quick work of the girl's fine black hair; first she put it up in a tight, high ponytail, and then proceeded to braid it and wrap the braid up in a knot. It pulled painfully on Salus' scalp, but ensured that very few loose strands would get in her face. Unfortunately, it laid out the girl's scared neck and ear for all to see. Lily opened up a bottle of coverup and other magical concealers, but hesitated to put it on.

"Are you sure about covering it?" Lily asked tentatively, "You don't have to tell the guys what it's from, they won't hassle you about it if you tell them to bugger off."

"I'm sure," Salus affirmed.

"It's just, Severus and I are the only ones that really know, and with you not being all that close with him right now… maybe it'd be good if you had more people to talk to," Lily grimaced, "I just don't think it's good to keep that all to yourself."

"I appreciate your concern, Lily, but I'm fine. Let's just get this whole thing over with," Salus replied, sending a slight smile over her shoulder, but not in the mood to continue the discussion further.

Lily nodded, and got to work. It took nearly half an hour to finish covering Salus' neck and ears in enough makeup and charms to hide the scar. In the end it didn't completely hide the damage, it made her burned skin look a little discoloured similarly as a birthmark might look, and her damaged ear was still a little wonky shaped if one looked close enough, but it was the best they could do. Looking at herself in the mirror, Salus ran her hand over the side of her neck. She had gotten used to the scar over the years, so to see it gone was somehow stranger than having it in the first place.

"Are you going home again this summer?" Lily asked quietly.

"Yes," Salus said, her tone giving the clear impression that she wasn't going to change her mind.

"You _know_ you can come stay with me this summer," Lily pressed, "so why don't you? Why do you always go back?"

"I have my reasons, Lily. Drop it," Salus sighed, finally looking away from the mirror to grab her cloak and scarf, "I'm going to go find the boys so we can get this over with."

"Salus-"

The door to their dorm was shut before Lily could say anything else on the matter, and Salus was down the stairs and out the portrait hole before Lily had even opened the door after her. Salus made her way down to the Great Hall, her stride quick and purposeful, but a few seconds after entering and sitting down at the Gryffindor table that momentary courage disappeared. Salus always kept her hair down because of her scar, so having it tied up so tightly suddenly made her feel self-conscious. Her hand rubbed nervously on the back of her neck, knowing that the makeup was spelled to hold even if she touched it, and her hair stood on end as she felt curious eyes looking her way. Most notably was her brother's gaze. She could see him even all the way across the Great Hall, his eyebrows knitted together in both concern and anger, which prompted the girl to turn her head slightly, just enough for him to see that she had glamoured the scar gone. Eventually he returned his attention to his meal, but she knew that he'd be wracking his brains for an explanation for the rest of the day. Salus _never_ wore her hair up, if she could get away with it. She refused to explain what she was doing, though, she was still mad at him, and he would just get even more angry.

"Hey, ready for today?" James's loud greeting as he and Sirius sat at the table broke Salus from her thoughts. Sirius was only allowed to leave the hospital wing so he could join his friends for meals. According to Madam Pomfrey, the short walks there and back were good for him, but Salus assumed she was getting tired of Sirius's boredom fueled antics.

"No," the girl answered honestly, "I forget how to fly, I don't like to be the centre of attention, I don't like heights anymore, and my scalp hurts because of this stupid looking bun."

"It's just a bun, how could that hurt?" Sirius asked.

Turning to face the boy sitting next to her, Salus grabbed Sirius' shoulder length hair and tugged it back painfully and tied it up in a tight ponytail before he could stop her, replying, "If you can keep that up for the whole day with absolutely no complaining then you win."

"What will I win?" Sirius asked, already scowling from the tight pull he was unaccustomed to.

"I am willing to offer 'anything you want' because I already know you won't win," Salus scoffed, buttering a piece of toast and starting to nibble on it despite the turn in her stomach.

"And what will you get?" James asked, a long, knowing smirk plastered on his face.

"The fulfillment of knowing I'm right would almost be enough for me, but I'm going to request one 'no-questions-asked' favor," Salus replied, a small grin pulling at her lips.

"No questions asked favor?" Sirius asked.

"I get to request one favor from you, you can either accept or deny the favor, but you _cannot_ under any circumstances ask _why_ I'm asking you to do it, and I can keep asking for different favors until you eventually accept one, but you can't ask _any_ questions," Salus explained. No-questions-asked favors were basically currency between her and Severus when they were kids.

Sirius seemed to consider the deal for a moment before shrugging, "Why not?"

As they shook hands in agreement, Remus and Lily entered the Great Hall. Lily looked a little cross, and sat next to James silently, but Remus looked completely surprised. He had seen Salus' scar, so he felt some obvious confusion when he saw her neck free of blemishes.

"Morning," he greeted, trying to hide his confusion from the others, and sat down on the other side of the short girl, "Nice hair."

"Thank you," Salus replied.

"No I was talking to Sirius," Remus said with a chuckle, earning laughs from the group.

"Yes, ha-ha, very funny," Sirius mocked, already scratching the back of his neck in discomfort, "Just you see, I'm going to win this bet, and Salus will owe me anything I want."

"I guarantee you won't win," Salus argued, before adding, "You know; the longer it's up, the more painful it is to take down."

"Were you born evil or did it manifest over time?" Sirius scowled.

"Bit of both," Salus shrugged, finishing off her toast.

"Alright," James clapped his hands together loudly and stood from his seat, waiting for the girl to finish her breakfast, and asked Salus, "Ready to go?"

"No?" Salus replied meekly, her previous near-happy mood disappearing in an instant.

"C'mon, Salus, everything's gonna be fine!" James said surely, "Let's go."

James was already crossing the Great Hall before the small group of students had even stood up to follow. Sirius slung his arm across Salus' shoulder as they walked after the others and spoke to her softly, "You know if you really don't want to fly, you don't have to. James might be a bit disappointed, but he'll get over it."

Salus looked up at the taller boy and smiled at his rarely earnest expression, "Thanks, Sirius."

Sirius sent her his signature cheeky grin, "Yeah, well just don't tell him I told you so. He'd have my bloody head on a stake for mutiny."

Salus laughed softly, but they were interrupted by McGonagall pointedly calling, "Mr. Black, shouldn't you be making your way back to the Hospital Wing?" from the head table.

"Of course, professor, just had to escort dear Salus here," Sirius said, before bowing and kissing the back of Salus' hand in an overly formal way, earning a silent snort of amusement from Salus. He groaned and sputtered leaning back up, gripping his bruised ribs in pain, before giving Salus a thumbs-up and muttering, "worth it."

Salus shook her head at Sirius as he limped back towards the Hospital Wing, almost moving to go after him - spending the day with Sirius seemed like a lot more fun than flying, after all - but was stopped when Remus lightly grabbed Salus' sleeve. "You coming?" He asked with a small smile, a tinge of worry hidden in his eyes.

"Yeah, sorry," Salus replied, "Sirius can be distracting. Let's go."

.oOo.

Salus couldn't think of anything she regretted more than allowing herself to be roped into getting back on a broom. Standing in the middle of the Quidditch field surrounded by her friends, holding one of the school brooms in clenched, gloved hands, Salus stared up at the sky with an expression that could only be described as horrified. Saying offhandedly that she would do something, when compared to actually having to do the task, were two completely different things.

"Alright, any minute now, Salus," James chuckled, nudging the girl with his elbow.

"Yeah," Salus muttered, not taking her eyes off the sky, "I just need a few seconds."

"I don't mean to rush, but you've had ten minutes of seconds," Lily pointed out, "And last I checked, we only get the field for the afternoon, not the whole school year."

Salus heaved a large sigh and finally mounted the broom. A thrill of excitement and fear crawled up her spine, and with a tentative shift forward, she lifted off the ground. She slowly flew upwards, spurred on by the cheers coming from James, and quickly got the feel for the school broom once again. The overbearing feeling of fear and anxiety that had held onto the girl since her last 'fall' seemed to ebb away with every foot she rose into the air, slowly being replaced with the joy that flying used to bring.

"Everything alright?" Remus yelled from the ground, but his calls fell onto deaf ears. Salus couldn't take her eyes off the skyline. Just as they started to grow concerned by her unanswer, the small girl shouted at the top of her lungs, " _This feels fucking amazing!"_

Without another word, Salus took off.

.oOo.

Salus didn't return to the ground until the end of the scheduled field time. Lily returned inside soon after Salus started flying after dubbing the small girl to be fine, and left her in the care of Remus and James. Although Salus was a tad rusty, it was similar to riding a bike in the sense that she would have never truly forgotten how to fly. It simply came naturally to her. Salus's shorter stature and lighter weight made her glide along effortlessly, and she easily caught the snitch that James repeatedly released for her. Although she didn't particularly care about catching the snitch, she simply enjoyed the feeling of flying. By the time she landed back onto the earth, she nearly collapsed underneath her shaken legs, and had to be caught by James and Remus. They simply laughed and clapped her on the back.

"Can't fly, huh?" James teased, a wide cheeky grin pulling at his lips.

"Shut up, James," Salus murmured with an embarrassed flush spreading over her cheeks, "It's been a long time."

"Perhaps, but I think we've found our replacement Seeker until Gudgeon is all healed up," James said triumphantly.

"I dunno, James," Salus replied, scuffing her boot clad foot against the frosty ground, "I mean, I like flying and all, but I don't know how good I'd be during an actual game…"

"Nope, too late, you're in," James responded smugly, taking the school broom from Salus to put it away, "I won't hear anything of the contrary. Gryffindor's next practice is scheduled for the afternoon after the New Years Ball - I know, It's a rubbish time, but every other time slot was booked."

"Wait, but James-"

"I can't hear you I'm already walking away," James exclaimed loudly, covering his ears and walking away quickly.

Salus huffed in frustration, but didn't bother chasing after him. He could run faster than her, and they both knew he would if it came down to it. The crunch of a foot walking over the snow covered ground alerted Salus, and when she turned around she found a limping Sirius covered head to toe in winter clothing.

"Shite, did I miss everything?" he asked, small white puffs of his frosty breath escaping the confines of the Gryffindor scarf wrapped around his face, "Took me forever to get away from Madam Pomfrey."

"Well you missed James pester Salus into joining the Gryffindor quidditch team," Remus chuckled, standing close next to Salus so their elbows brushed.

"Pester isn't exactly the word I would use," Salus muttered, and motioned to the broomshed where James was currently putting Salus's broom and the snitch back, "He said I was in the team and then covered his ears and practically ran off so I couldn't correct him."

Sirius laughed, wincing slightly at the burst of pain in his ribs. Salus seemed to only then notice the deep chill that had sunk down into her bones, all of her adrenaline wearing away, and a sudden shudder wracked her thin frame. She also noticed that Sirius' hair was still tied up and tightly restricted behind his head, and she had to hide her disappointment that he hadn't given up yet.

"Come on, let's go inside before we all catch our death," Remus said, wrapping an arm around Salus's shoulders to fight off the cold air. The group of friends made their way back into the castle for lunch, talking through the stale winter air about quidditch and the upcoming Ball, unaware of the effect both subjects would eventually have on the tightly knit group.

Unfortunately for Salus, in the end Sirius never untied his hair no matter how uncomfortable it was. However, he had almost started crying when she let it down after declaring him the winner of their bet. When she asked him what he wanted, he replied that he would save her favour for a rainy day, and they didn't think of the bet for a long time after. Although Sirius already knew what he would eventually ask for.

.oOo.

 **A/N: Again, I'm sorry for not updating sooner. What do you all think Sirius will ask for? Who are you all rooting for more; Remus or Sirius? How do you think Severus will react to Salus's (temporary) placement on the quidditch team? Let me know all of your thoughts in the reviews (** **I would love to hear them) or send me a private message!**


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